Hayden: Iran's 'Stunning' Claims Demand Congress Review Deal
Friday, 10 Apr 2015 11:06 AM
Comments made Thursday by Iran’s supreme leader about the terms of the proposed nuclear deal were in direct contradiction to what the White House has represented, making it imperative that Congress review the agreement, retired Gen. Michael Hayden, a former director of both the NSA and CIA, said Friday on "America’s Forum."
"When this first happened and [Iran] was saying different things in Tehran than [Secretary of State John] Kerry saying in Washington, I said you have to expect that. And in some ways you'd want that, because each guy has got to sell the deal to his constituency," said Hayden on the Newsmax TV program.
"But in the last couple of days, the stories have become so desperate that they don't link back to the original deal," he said, characterizing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's statements as "stunning."
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"I cannot see how State Department spokesmen, or even White House spokesmen, can repeat what the president said earlier about 'this historic agreement,'" Hayden said. "What agreement?"
Khamenei, according to The New York Times, boldly stated that all economic sanctions would need to be lifted immediately upon the signing of an agreement and that the nation’s military sites would be "strictly off limits to foreign inspectors."
The Obama administration has lost all credibility, nationally and internationally, with its purported misrepresentations of the proposed accord’s terms, according to Hayden.
"We don't have a deal. And those things we've claimed have been agreed, a negotiating partner has said are not agreed ... even the French have a white paper out there that's inconsistent with our views," he said.
"I would say, right now, all is chaos. Congress needs to look into this. What's going on here? What are the facts?"
Hayden said that he had hoped to see Khamenei come out with a "more muted and supportive" statement.
"In a normal world, with the head of a foreign government saying what he said, this would be over, we would be done," he said. "We would simply say, we don't have a deal.
"Without being specific," Khamenei announced that "the American point papers are all wrong, you got to lift all sanctions and you got to lift them all at once, right at the beginning. And you're never going to get to see any of our military installations.
"So," Hayden asked, "where do we go from here?"
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"When this first happened and [Iran] was saying different things in Tehran than [Secretary of State John] Kerry saying in Washington, I said you have to expect that. And in some ways you'd want that, because each guy has got to sell the deal to his constituency," said Hayden on the Newsmax TV program.
"But in the last couple of days, the stories have become so desperate that they don't link back to the original deal," he said, characterizing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's statements as "stunning."
Khamenei, according to The New York Times, boldly stated that all economic sanctions would need to be lifted immediately upon the signing of an agreement and that the nation’s military sites would be "strictly off limits to foreign inspectors."
The Obama administration has lost all credibility, nationally and internationally, with its purported misrepresentations of the proposed accord’s terms, according to Hayden.
"We don't have a deal. And those things we've claimed have been agreed, a negotiating partner has said are not agreed ... even the French have a white paper out there that's inconsistent with our views," he said.
"I would say, right now, all is chaos. Congress needs to look into this. What's going on here? What are the facts?"
"In a normal world, with the head of a foreign government saying what he said, this would be over, we would be done," he said. "We would simply say, we don't have a deal.
"Without being specific," Khamenei announced that "the American point papers are all wrong, you got to lift all sanctions and you got to lift them all at once, right at the beginning. And you're never going to get to see any of our military installations.
"So," Hayden asked, "where do we go from here?"
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