Oliver North to Newsmax TV: Iran Nuclear Deal Prompted Syrian Air Strike

A U.S. air strike in Syria had more to do with the Iran nuclear deal than retaliation, according to political commentator Oliver North on Newsmax TV.

Thursday night's airstrike against Syrian facilities linked to an Iran-backed militia group were said to be a response to threats against U.S. forces in the region. North said the real reason was the The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the official name of the nuclear pact.

"The idea of what [President Joe Biden] really is intending on doing is bring us back to this so-called JCPOA," North told host Chris Salcedo on "The Chris Salcedo Show" on Friday. "Of course, the Europeans love that idea because it gives them the out of saying, 'Well, we're just trying to negotiate, and diplomacy is what we're after.'

"The bottom line of it is: The JCPOA was fatally flawed from the very beginning. The maximum pressure campaign brought on by the Trump administration was much more likely to get the ayatollahs to do what they needed to do to make sure their country could survive."

Retired Marine Lt. Col. North also expressed concern about China's dealings with Iran.

"There's also a covert part of what's going on," North said. "What [Chinese President] Xi Jinping is doing is he has worked a deal with the Iranian ayatollahs, this theocracy dictatorship that rules a significant part of the territory over there, to give them the means of building nuclear weapons, and the means of delivering them."

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