Republicans in their first presidential debates said they would undo the Iran nuclear deal.
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Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee criticized Obama’s recent comments lambasting the Republican Party for not supporting the deal.
“That’s an absurd argument, and it’s the one they’ve made from the very beginning, that it’s either what the President negotiates with the Iranians or it’s war“, McConnell said.
Fellow candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) took a softer line, saying he opposed the deal and would vote against it, but that he did not “discount” negotiations. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he would “terminate the deal on day one”, “reinstate the sanctions authorized by Congress“, and “convince our allies to do the same”.
Prior to the primetime debate at 9 p.m., an initial debate for the lower polling candidates was held four hours earlier. He also knocked Obama on Thursday for claiming the only option to avoid war with Iran is a deal.
But Obama said the Republicans’ unwillingness to consider any deal put them in league with Iranian factions opposed to the deal. Iran got everything it wants. Trump was the only candidate who would not pledge to support the winning GOP candidate if it were not him. “What’s happened [with] Iran is a disgrace”.
In his final statement, Cruz emphasized his foreign policy credentials in addition to his social conservatism, listing among the things he would do immediately if elected president the idea of rescinding the nuclear deal with Iran and moving the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv, a statement that had the audience applauding.
“We need to stop the Iran agreement, for sure, because the Iranian mullahs have blood on their hands, and we need to take out ISIS with every tool at our disposal”, Jeb Bush, the former Florida Governor said in response to a question.
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“I would say he’s incompent but I won’t do that because it’s not nice”, he said to cheers. “Yes, our allies are not ideal, but Iran is at the heart of nearly every evil that is going on in the ME through their proxy”.
