Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton used harsh remarks Wednesday in a major speech pledging to enforce the Iran nuclear deal with tenacity and skepticism if she is president, denying the deal is a gateway to rapprochement after more than 35 years of enmity.
“We need to be clear-eyed about what we can expect from Iran,” Clinton said.
“This isn’t the start of some broader diplomatic opening, and we shouldn’t expect that this deal will lead to a broader change in their behavior,” Clinton said. “That shouldn’t be a premise for proceeding.”
The Brookings Institution address is the first foreign policy speech of Clinton’s 5-month-old campaign.
“The outcome of the deal in Congress is no longer in much doubt,” Clinton said, referring to Democratic support that ensures President Obama could override a Republican-led effort to derail the agreement.
“So we’ve got to start looking ahead to what comes next: enforcing it, deterring Iran and its proxies, and strengthening our allies,” she said.
Her own long skepticism about Iranian motives and behavior has not abated.
Her campaign said she will present an enforcement plan that includes reassurances to Israel, which opposes the agreement, and Sunni Persian Gulf nations nervous about the added money and international reach the accord could give their Shiite rival.
Clinton will propose increased support for Israeli rocket and missile defenses, her campaign said. This presumably means an expansion of the existing U.S.-Israeli cooperation in the Iron Dome missile defense system and a follow-on program.
Her campaign said she would also support selling Israel the newest advanced military fighter jets.
Clinton would expand the U.S. military presence in the Gulf, and expand cooperation such as intelligence sharing with Gulf allies.
She is also promising to build a coalition of nations to counter Iranian proxies, especially the Hezbollah militia based in Lebanon.
“Our strategy needs to cover all these bases: Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its support of terrorism,” Clinton said. “Its hatred of Israel and its cruelty toward its citizens.”