Van Hollen: Bibi Attacked Iran Deal, Got Them Closer to Nuke, to Drag U.S. into War

On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) stated that “Prime Minister Netanyahu has always wanted to drag the United States into a war with Iran.” And “This is also why Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to sabotage the JCPOA when President Obama was in office.”

Van Hollen said, “Remember, the goal here is to make sure Iran does not develop a nuclear weapon. We had the JCPOA. We had a nuclear agreement during the Obama administration. It was Donald Trump who tore up that agreement. Prime Minister Netanyahu lobbied against that agreement. But I think it’s always best if we can achieve that goal through diplomatic means.”

Co-host Sara Sidner then asked, “You said this week that Prime Minister Netanyahu has outsmarted President Trump. How so?”

Van Hollen answered, “Well, because Prime Minister Netanyahu has always wanted to drag the United States into a war with Iran. Remember, Prime Minister Netanyahu was a big cheerleader for the war in Iraq. And many people believed that would be ‘a cakewalk.’ The Bush administration folks thought that would be over in a very short period of time. This is also why Prime Minister Netanyahu tried to sabotage the JCPOA when President Obama was in office. His goals have always been to take military action against Iran. And Donald Trump ran on a platform of being the guy who was going to end the wars. He was going to end the war in Gaza, end the war in Ukraine, not start wars. And so, my view is that Prime Minister Netanyahu was — on the verge anyway — of getting Donald Trump to do what he’s wanted to do all along, which is drag the United States into a war with Iran.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett