Today’s joint White House press conference between the U.S. president and British prime minister was dominated, rather unexpectedly, by the subject of Iran. Both Barack Obama and David Cameron pushed hard against new economic sanctions against Tehran. The president threatened to veto any Congressional bill outlining additional sanctions against the Iranian regime over its nuclear program.
Members of Congress on both sides of the political aisle have been preparing a new range of sanctions aimed at Iran, which continues to develop its nuclear plans while acting as a major state sponsor of international terror. Disconcertingly, it was revealed today that the British prime minister, no doubt at the Obama administration’s request, has been contacting members of Congress, outlining his own opposition to further Iran sanctions. This is an extremely unusual intervention for a British leader to make, and will be unlikely to sway opinion on Capitol Hill, which is increasingly skeptical about the Obama negotiation strategy on Iran.
Earlier this week, in a speech at the Heritage Foundation, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, a Republican, strongly condemned the Obama administration’s appeasement policy towards Tehran, which he described as “all carrot and no stick.” As Cotton noted, Obama has “surrendered repeatedly to Iran’s demands,” an approach that was amply on display at the Obama-Cameron press conference today.
Cameron and Obama are sending the wrong signal towards a highly dangerous dictatorship in Tehran, which remains intent on building a nuclear weapons program that will directly threaten Israel and U.S. allies in the Middle East, as well as the United States and Europe. Over a decade of “constructive engagement” between the European Union and Iran failed to deliver any meaningful concessions from the Islamists. Obama’s naïve approach towards the brutal rogue state will very likely have the same result. Only strength and resolve will end Tehran’s nuclear program, and neither were on display today at the White House.
