US should 'end nuclear negotiations with Iran, never re-enter deal' - Pence

WASHINGTON - Former vice president Mike Pence said on Sunday that the current administration “should end all negotiations with Iran,” and that the US “should never re-enter the Iran nuclear deal.”

Pence visited Cornerstone Church in Texas for a fireside chat with Pastor John Hagee, the founder of Christians United for Israel. “The Iran nuclear deal would not prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” said Pence.

“It would virtually ensure after a set period of time that they would have access to the fissile materials to make a nuclear weapon. And I couldn't be more proud to have been vice president in an administration that isolated Iran as never before,” he added. “We not only got out of the Iran nuclear deal but by unleashing our armed forces, we took down the ISIS caliphate and their leader. We marshaled support from Arab nations across the world, even as we were sending in an ambiguous message of support for Israel.”

“At the time that we made the announcement [we] were moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, virtually every world leader told President Trump that it would reap the whirlwind; that it would create mayhem in the region,” Pence continued.

“It was some opposition even within our administration,” he remarked. “But I, alongside the president and a few other key members of our administration, believed otherwise. And when that decision came down, we didn't reap the whirlwind. In the fall of 2020, the President of the United States, joined by two Arab countries, signed the first peace agreement with two Arab nations in 25 years in the Abraham Accord. So what we should do now is to continue to isolate Iran as never before. The United States of America needs to say with one voice, we will never allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon. Not now, not ever.”

Speaking about Israel, he said: “I knew if I ever had the privilege of representing my state in our nation's capital or serving in public life, I was going to stand for Israel.”

“I came to understand the practical challenges that Israel faces,” Pence continued. “But more than anything else, as I said, when I spoke before the Knesset shortly after the president of the United States announced that we were moving the American Embassy to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel - I said that we stand with Israel because her cause is our cause and we stand with Israel because in so many ways, the very existence of Israel, the rebirth of the Jewish state of Israel is evidence that the promises of God are true.”