Rejecting the nuclear deal with Iran will have "troubling" consequences, former National Security Agency Director Zbigniew Brzezinski said Tuesday, including the potential for a larger war in the Middle East.
"I think any intelligent person knows in their gut, if we don't' approve it, the consequence might be devastating," Brzezinski, who served under President Jimmy Carter, told
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, which his daughter, Mika, co-hosts.
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The Iran agreement, though, differs from many other agreements in international affairs, Brzezinski commented, as most are like pacts in which "you do this, we do this, we agree and we do it."
Instead, the Iran agreement "is a process" in which there are "a series of reciprocal actions over a longer period of time ... it's a process designed to [create] an incredibly complex relationship to a more positive one, in which the domestic evolution of public attitudes towards each other are talking out of America and Iran. It takes time."
Meanwhile, if the agreement succeeds, he said, there is the possibility that "Iran really joins the international community and becomes a force for good," he continued.
"If it doesn't, especially if it doesn't ... then we have a mess on our hands in the Middle East like none that we have known before."
He said he does see some parallels between the Iran agreement and the one most polarizing decision reached while he was in office over the Panama Canal because of the political divisions over the issue.