The Obama administration may have gotten a nuclear deal with Iran, but over a period of time, the country continued to grow in influence, Rep. Adam Kinzinger said Friday, but he feels more comfortable about U.S. relations with Iran after a meeting with administration officials and when he sees President Donald Trump and his national security team.
"They have a grip not just on the Iran issue, but the broader issues of the world," the Illinois Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom" program.
"Under the prior administration, really all they wanted to do was get some kind of a deal with Iran on nuclear weapons and call it a day."
After the deal was approved, Iran is "in Syria, they're basically supporting Hezbollah, putting big threats against Israel and they are meddling in Iraq and everyone else in the Middle East because of this money from the deal," said Kinzinger. "The administration has a comprehensive plan of which the Iran deal is a part of it, but I think there will be a broader confrontation against this terrible regime."
Meanwhile, Kinzinger said he has no idea what Trump meant when he made his "calm before the storm" comment Thursday night.
"Only the president knows what he meant by that," said Kinzinger. "Look, there is a sense of unpredictability with President Trump which I think works in his favor. Our enemies or adversaries don't know what his next action will be and there is huge benefit in that as they say what will they do to us next? "
Kinzinger also pointed out that even if Trump does decertify the Iran deal, it "it doesn't mean we're tearing it up and leaving it. Decertification is a process where Congress comes in with the administration and how to bring allies along, including missile development. I don't know if there is disagreement. If there is, I think it's healthy disagreement within an administration."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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