Virginia Senator Tim Kaine Has Been Consistently Wrong About Iran

Kaine Claimed in 2016 that Hillary Clinton Eliminated the Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program, “Without Firing a Single Shot.”

In 2016 the Democratic Presidential nominee Hillary Clinton picked Virginia’s junior Senator Tim Kaine to be her running mate, and part of Kaine’s job as the running mate was to defend her record on the campaign trail. He did this aggressively and dishonestly on every issue, including Iran and Hillary’s effort at stopping them from getting a nuclear weapon.

Hillary Clinton served as Secretary of State under Barack Obama and in that role, she was involved in the negotiations to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program. John Kerry then completed the negotiations after he succeeded her as Secretary of State. At issue during the campaign was the product of the negotiations, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, commonly referred to as the Iranian nuclear deal.

At the time the Iranian economy was getting crushed by international sanctions, but instead of continuing the pressure on the unpopular regime, the Obama administration threw them a lifeline. They offered them a deal, a sweetheart deal you might say, which gave the Iranians all they wanted. The Obama administration wanted a deal so badly that it was embarrassing. Perhaps Obama thought he could win another Nobel Peace Prize. US negotiators were like used car salesmen at the lot on a Saturday, asking the Iranians, “What do we have to do to get you into an agreement today.” The Mullahs made demands, and we gave in. It was unbelievable.

It is no exaggeration to point out that it was a horrible deal. It was so bad that only people like John Kerry and Tim Kaine could support it. The deal released billions of dollars to Iran with no strings attached, for example, it didn’t prohibit them from funding terrorism with that money, or oppressing their people and it only delayed Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. In exchange the Iranians got relief from sanctions and cold hard cash. Because of that relief the Iranian regime was able to live on.

Hillary took credit for the deal, and naturally Kaine backed her up.

During the 2016 campaign there was a Vice-Presidential debate between Kaine and the Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Mike Pence. The Iranian deal came up and in praising Clinton, Kaine raised eyebrows with his assertion that Hillary:

“Worked a tough negotiation with nations around the world to eliminate the Iranian nuclear weapons program without firing a shot.”

A surprised Pence pressed him, skeptically asking him, did she really end Iran’s nuclear program, Kaine responded, “Absolutely, without firing a shot.”

The deal didn’t eliminate Iran’s program, at best, if Iran didn’t cheat, they would stop the program, but the deal had an expiration date, so there was no guarantee that they couldn’t restart in the future. At which time they could make more demands on the world.

The other part of the Iran deal was the concession that we would unfreeze some of their money, which we froze in part because of their acts of terrorism against American citizens. To woo the mullahs in Iran the Obama administration packed a plane full of cash and flew it to Iran. The Iranians could use the money anyway they wanted. Kaine defended the transfer:

“There was a legitimate claim against the United States,” Kaine said. “The United States bargained it down to a fraction. We’re making claims in international tribunals, and we’re having claims made against us all the time. We bargained it down to a fraction and paid a portion of the claim,” he went on, “And we got the hostages’ home. Both of those things are appropriate.”

Kaine points out that with the money we got our hostages back. Not sure how we can trust hostage takers, but Kaine thought it was worth it to deal with the Iranians.

Well, over the weekend President Trump took action to eliminate the Iranian program through the use of B-2’s, and by all indications the attack succeeded. Iran’s bomb making program has been destroyed. And in response Senator Kaine went on the Sunday talk shows to attempt to spin away Trump’s great accomplishment.

Trump ditched the Kaine negotiating approach. Trump made it clear; Iran can’t have a bomb period. There is nothing to negotiate. As he said to the Iranians, they could do it the easy way, which is that they destroy it voluntarily, or the not so nice way, we would destroy it.

Well, has Kaine acknowledged the obvious fact that Trump was right? Has he acknowledged that Hillary didn’t eliminate Iran’s nuclear program? No, in fact he is now claiming that Trump violated the Constitution by not getting congressional approval.

Well, Kaine is wrong. Trump didn’t need Congress’s approval. This is not a war, which does require congressional approval, this is a strike probably only one to accomplish one objective.

There have only been 11 times that we have declared war, but over 100 times, going back to when President Thomas Jefferson went after the Barbary Pirates, that a President has directed military action without congressional approval. In 1988 Reagan sank half of the Iranian navy. I don’t think he asked Congress if it was ok.

For years the Obama and then the Biden administration (but they might be one and the same) tried to bribe and cajole the mad mullahs in Tehran into giving up their nuclear weapons program. These efforts failed.

But Trump took a different approach and proved that all that was really needed to end their program was a bombing run.

David Shephard is the author of two books. Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale.

Norton’s Choice:An Inside Politics Exposé: Shephard, David: 9781892538802: Amazon.com: Books