Susan Rice responds to praise of Trump’s Iran deal speech: ‘BS’

Susan Rice, who served as former President Barack Obama’s national security adviser, fired back at one of the biggest pro-Israel lobbyist groups in the U.S. on Friday after the group praised President Trump’s speech on Iran.

“BS,” Rice wrote in response to a tweet from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which had said that Trump’s speech “accurately outlined the history and continued dangers of Iran’s aggression.”

BS https://t.co/dgSF86kH3a

— Susan Rice (@AmbassadorRice) October 13, 2017

.@POTUS’ important speech today accurately outlined the history and continued dangers of Iran’s aggression.

— AIPAC (@AIPAC) October 13, 2017

Trump declared during a speech at the White House on Friday that the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal was no longer in the national security interest of the United States.

{mosads}

“I am announcing today that we cannot and will not make this certification,” Trump said.

“We will not continue down a path whose predictable conclusion is more violence, more terror and the very real threat of Iran’s nuclear breakout,” he continued.

Trump didn’t call for the U.S. to leave the deal, though, and instead called for Congress to pass new benchmarks Iran must meet to avoid nuclear weapons-related sanctions in the future.

Trump faced criticism from U.S. allies following the speech. French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister Theresa May said in a joint statement that preserving the Iran deal “is in our shared national security interest.” 

“We encourage the U.S. administration and Congress to consider the implications to the security of the U.S. and its allies before taking any steps that might undermine the [deal], such as re-imposing sanctions on Iran lifted under the agreement,” they said.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) also ripped Trump for his announcement, saying his comments were just “a lot of bluster.”

“If we are genuinely concerned with Iran’s behavior in the region, as I am, the worst possible thing we could do is undermine this nuclear deal. It would make addressing all of these other problems harder. Unfortunately, I heard no strategy from Trump today, just a lot of bluster,” Sanders said in a statement.

Rice is among a number of Obama administration officials weighing in on Trump’s move Friday targeting a major piece of Obama’s foreign policy. Former Secretary of State John Kerry, who helped broker the Iran deal, ripped Trump’s decision and called for other nations to stick to the accord.

“I strongly hope that the other six signatories will prove to the world what responsible behavior is, and adhere to this agreement — no matter what false accusations and contrived provocations are put forward by President Trump,” Kerry said.