President Abandons Appeasement With Rejection of Iran Deal

President Donald J. Trump has summed up the Iran deal negotiated by President Barack H. Obama as follows, "The Iran Deal was one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into."

The president, as a candidate, promised to end a deal with Iran that has been honored in the breach. He gave it serious consideration and waited until he could gather the evidence and consult with our allies prior to taking action.

As a result of the overwhelming evidence that Iran is acting in bad faith the president had no choice but to cancel the deal, staying true to his oath to "preserve, protect and defend" the United States of America.

A few of the reasons the president came to his conclusion and the consequences, include:

• The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malignant behavior. At best, it delayed Iran's ability to pursue nuclear weapons, while allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development.

• The president has directed his administration to immediately begin the process of re-imposing sanctions related to the JCPOA.

• The re-imposed sanctions will target critical sectors of Iran’s economy, such as its energy, petrochemical, and financial sectors.

• Those doing business in Iran will be allocated a period of time, allowing them to wind down operations in or business involving Iran.

• Those who fail to wind down such activities with Iran by the end of that period will risk severe consequences.

• U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA will pressure the Iranian regime to alter its course of malignant activities, ensuring that Iranian bad acts are no longer rewarded. As a result, both Iran and its regional proxies will be put on notice. Most importantly, this step will help ensure global funds stop flowing toward illicit terrorist and nuclear activities.

• Intelligence recently released by Israel provides compelling details about Iran’s past secret efforts to develop nuclear weapons. Iran has lied about such efforts for years.

• The intelligence further demonstrates that the Iranian regime did not come clean about its nuclear weapons activity, and that it entered the JCPOA in bad faith.

• The JCPOA failed to deal with the threat of Iran’s missile program and did not include a strong enough mechanism for inspections and verification.

• The JCPOA foolishly gave the Iranian regime a windfall of cash and concurrently access to the international financial system for trade and investment.

• Instead of using the money from the JCPOA to support the Iranian people at home, the regime has instead funded a military buildup and continues to fund its terrorist proxies, such as Hezballah and Hamas.

• Iran violated the laws and regulations of European countries to counterfeit the currency of its neighbor, Yemen, to support the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Quds Force’s destabilizing activities.

Going forward, President Trump will work to assemble a broad coalition of nations to deny Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon and to counter the totality of the regimes outlaw activities. This means, nations must work together to halt the Iranian regime’s destabilizing drive for regional hegemony.

The administration’s actions are directed against the malignant behavior of the Iranian regime, not against the Iranian people, who are the regime’s longest-suffering victims.

These are the goals of the president’s actions:

• Iran will never have an ICBM; cease developing any missiles with nuclear capability; stop proliferating ballistic missiles to others.

• Cease its support for terrorists, extremists, and regional proxies, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, the Taliban, and al-Qaida.

• Cease its publicly declared quest to destroy Israel.

• Stop its threats to freedom of navigation, especially in the Persian Gulf and Red Sea.

• Cease escalating the Yemen conflict and destabilizing the region by proliferating weapons to the Houthis.

• End its cyber-attacks against the U.S. and our allies, including Israel.

• Stop its grievous human rights abuses, shown most recently in the regime’s crackdown against widespread protests by Iranian citizens.

• Stop its unjust detention of foreigners, including U.S. citizens.

Our nation is at its best when it stands on principle, leading from strength. Apology and appeasement breeds contempt, only emboldening an enemy, while endangering peace.

Peace comes from strength. President Trump's bold, decisive, and measured action makes that peace more likely, and nuclear war impossible.

Bradley Blakeman was a member of President George W. Bush's senior White House staff from 2001 to 2004. He is also a frequent contributor to Fox News and Fox Business Channel. He currently is a Principal with the 1600group.com a consulting company. — Click Here Now.