Hayden sees a new ‘red line’ on Iran

The success of the recent nuclear deal with Iran depends on what happens next, former NSA and CIA Director Michael Hayden said during this week’s “Fox News Sunday.”

“We have hit the ‘pause’ button” on their program to develop nuclear capabilities, “now we’ve got to negotiate hitting the ‘delete’ button with them,” he said.

{mosads}Through the deal — which decreases sanctions against Iran in exchange for certain limitations on the country’s nuclear program — “we have accepted Iranian uranium enrichment,” Hayden said.

“There’s no question about that.”

Hayden said it’s reasonable that the United States would need to accept Iranian uranium enrichment, which is “a different red line than we used to have.”

Hayden also commented on the recent declaration from China regarding the airspace off its coast.

Hayden called China’s move “both dangerous and dumb.”

“No one is going to accept” the country’s territorial approach to the part of the South China Sea, which is disputed territory between China and Japan, he said.

The Chinese government announced last week that it should be notified whenever a foreign aircraft enters the airspace.

Last week, the U.S. flew two warplanes into the airspace without notifying the Chinese government, in defiance of its recent declaration.

“We’re going to have to continue to do what we did last week,” Hayden said.