New York Democrat Rep. Jerrold Nadler breaks with President Barack Obama on negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran, warning that the country is a bigger threat to the United States than the Islamic State (ISIS).
"I don’t want to see our focus on Iran, or that we ally with Iran, because of ISIS," Nadler said Sunday on "The Cats Roundtable" on
New York's AM 970. "Iran is developing intercontinental ballistic missiles whose sole purpose is to carry nuclear weapons to North America. That is the real strategic threat. And I’m concerned that we’ll take our eye off the main ball [because of ISIS]."
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Nadler said he also is concerned that nobody knows what is going on in the negotiations to allow Iran to operate a nuclear power program without a weapons program.
"Nobody knows what’s in the deal," he told host John Catsimatidis.
One of his issues is the length of the agreement.
"If the agreement says Iran can’t make nuclear fissile materials, and there will be very good inspections, and so forth, for 10 years, but in the 11th year they can become a nuclear power, that’s not a good deal," he said.
Nadler does agree with Obama, however, in opposing new sanctions being pushed by Republicans.
"There’s no upside to voting it now, because if the president asks for sanctions in March or July, we’ll vote it within 24 hours," Nadler said. "And there’s a downside … If the negotiations fail, and we have to double the sanctions, you want Europeans to go along with them. You don’t want to give them any excuse to say, 'Hey, the failure of the negotions is partly America’s fault … so we’re not going to join in the heavier sanctions.'"
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