John Bolton: 'The Government of Iran Feels No Danger From the United States'
(CNSNews.com) – As the Biden administration repeatedly urges Iran to rejoin the nuclear deal scrapped as worthless by President Trump, Iran has threatened to attack certain Americans, including President Trump’s former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Trump’s former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
A much earlier target of Iran’s wrath, author Salman Rushie, was almost killed last Friday by a man who stabbed him numerous times during a lecture event at the Chautauqua Institution in northwestern New York State. His alleged assailant, Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, later said Rushdie was “someone who attacked Islam.”
On Wednesday, Bolton told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “What you can conclude from all of these (plots), and more that have not been reported and are still subject to being watched and the rest of it, is that the government of Iran feels no danger from the United States.
“They think they can act with impunity, even as the Biden administration is on its knees trying to get back into the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. They think they can carry out what, in effect, is an act of war against trying to kill citizens of the United States on American soil.
“I’m not sure there’s precedent for this,” Bolton said. “This isn’t just state sponsorship of terrorism. This is state terrorism of an unprecedented level. And I just think it’s demeaning for the United States to allow this to happen and still be begging to get back into a nuclear deal the Iranians aren’t going to comply with.”
Host Jake Tapper asked Bolton, “What should Biden do?”
“Well, I think they have got to do more than issue statements saying that an attack on an American will be met with reprisal,” Bolton said:
“That’s obviously insufficient deterrence. And it means waiting until somebody is dispatched. Salman Rushdie was grievously wounded. It’s a miracle he’s alive.
“So, if we have to wait until the Revolutionary Guards, or their agents, actually kill somebody before we do anything, then I think the Iranians are going to continue to be encouraged.
“I think you have got to say to the Iranians, we are walking away from the negotiations over the nuclear deal. You are a thoroughly uncivilized government.
“We know you’re not worth your word on anything. And we’re going to take steps to protect Americans and to protect the wider world against your threat, not the nuclear issue over here and the terrorism issue over there.
“It is the regime itself that’s a threat. And we are going to do what we need to do to protect ourselves and our allies.”
The Biden administration has spent the past 16 months trying to get Iran to rejoin the deal that would, supposedly, prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But there is still no agreement, even as the administration warns that time is running out.
On Tuesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said arriving at a deal with Iran is a complicated challenge: “There would be no greater challenge to our foreign policy, to our national security, to the collective security of the international community, should Iran acquire a nuclear weapon.”
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