“Is the Trump administration going to keep in place the Iran nuclear deal, or throw it out?” Buck posed that question on Thursday’s show to Dr. Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
“On the one hand Iranians have followed the deal,” Schanzer replied. “They’ve mothballed most of their nuclear facilities, they’ve self-reported small violations like having too much heavy water. Overall they are hewing to the letter of the deal as such, meaning no gross violations have been committed.”
But in response to Buck’s confusion over President Trump’s comments that Iran has not followed the “spirit” of the deal, Schanzer had this to day.
“The UN resolution to codify the deal called on Iran not to test ballistic missiles,” and they’ve done that, said Schanzer.
“What they’re basically doing is mastering the delivery system for a nuclear weapon in the future,” he continued, “and the deal was set up so that Iran could be ready in 15 years to be a turnkey nuclear actor. Four years from now, the ban on selling weapons on the international marketplace is going to be lifted. Iran will be able to buy and sell arms on the market. And in seven years, they can test ballistic missiles.”
“They got everything they wanted. They just have to wait to get to the finish line.”
Buck asked after the possibility that Iran would somehow screw things up by getting antsy.
“Iran would be dumb if they got antsy with the process,” replied Schanzer. “They’re getting everything they want in this deal. It just takes time. They’ve got sanctions relief cash, they’ve got the lapsing of restrictions on nuclear development. If they just wait 15 years, they will have all of their money, and they will have a nuclear program.”
Click on the above to hear the interview in full.



