Geoff Dyer Quotes

The one thing that you can say about the new Cabinet Donald Trump is putting together. That seems to be one of the coherent themes. They're very, very skeptical about Iran.

Jon Bolton is the neocon's neocon. He was a hawk straight down the line. He wanted to bomb Iran five, six years ago before the Donald Trump election!

President Obama's trying to work out a nuclear deal with Iran, and the Republicans are steamed. They got together and sent Iran a letter about the nuclear deal. They said if this doesn't work, by God, they're going to send Seth Rogen and James Franco.

But when Warren has spoken on national security, she has invariably spouted warmed-over, banal Democratic hawk tripe of the kind that she just recited about Israel and Gaza. During her Senate campaign, for instance, she issued wildly militaristic – and in some cases clearly false – statements about Iran and its nuclear program that would have been comfortable on the pages of The Weekly Standard.

Donald Trump has the ability to renegotiate the Iran nuclear deal as he says, but if he were to do so, this would be regarded in Tehran as an abrogation of the deal. This would allow the Iranian side of the deal to in effect withdraw because they could say that the United States has not held up its end of the bargain, and therefore we're going to restart our nuclear program.

It's bad, bad experience. Whether it's the Iran deal that you're so in love with, where we gave them $150 billion back, whether it's the Iran deal, whether it's anything you can - name - you almost can't name a good deal. I agree.

I think Iran deal is on life support, I'll put it that way, but I'm not here to declare one way or the other where it will go. But I do believe it's on life support. I know the president-elect does not like the Iran deal, thinks it's really, really bad. And that's sort of the starting point on that discussion.

General [James] Mattis has said that the deal's in place. We can't unilaterally pull out of it without support from our allies because the sanctions wouldn't bite as deeply. And so he'll find other ways to push back against Iran in the various conflicts that Iran is fomenting around the [Iran] region.

Both Bibi and Obama realize that they are going to have to face the problem of Iran together.

My goal is always to keep support for Israel a bi-partisan issue and never make a national election any kind of referendum on Israel.

Refusing to lift sanctions and adopting tougher rhetoric toward Iran would not be partisan issues. Plenty of Democrats think that those actions are both good politics and good policy.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned, it seems, to direct the Middle East policy of the Obama administration.

The first weekend after the attacks of September 11, George W. Bush had a meeting at Camp David with his top advisors, including Colin Powell, the secretary of state. And there was a lively debate about Iraq policy, in which some people from the Pentagon were arguing that the war against terrorism should include Saddam Hussein.

President George W. Bush, in his now-rare public appearances and interviews, still refuses to acknowledge he did anything to help Iran. But it doesn't really matter what he thinks.

With a glance, a nod, and a few words, without consulting anyone other than the President, the brothers could mobilize the full power of the United States anywhere in the world.

There's no question, I think, as more and more people get to know Rex Tillerson, they're going to be really proud of the choice that Donald Trump made as our next secretary of state.

I do not believe the United States and the Americans are going to let Donald Trump become president... I think the challenge is Donald Trump, with his anti-China rhetoric and with his anti-trade rhetoric, is going to make the job for all of us more difficult going forward.

As a member of Congress, I am part of a large group of elected officials who remain clear-eyed about the threat emanating from Tehran.

I think Donald Trump knows the kind of leadership that we [Americans] need at home and abroad.

I had differences of opinion with President Obama and most well-known, of course, is Iran.

Does John Kerry have to give them [Iran] every little thing? You'll pass some sanctions for human rights and missiles, and I'll grudgingly sign on.

The Bush administration continues to coddle China, despite its continuing crackdown on democratic reform, its brutal subjugation of Tibet, its irresponsible export of nuclear and missile technology... Such forbearance on our part might have made sense during the Cold War when China was the counterweight to Soviet power. It makes no sense to play the China card now when our opponents have thrown in their hand.

Hillary Clinton's policies unleashed ISIS, spread terrorism and put Iran on a path to nuclear weapons.

The new [Donald Trump] administration may not want the benefit of [Dan Fried] expertise in terms of figuring out what Russia is up to with us right now but I do. I mean, we can all benefit from it as a country as we figure out what's going on right now with this presidency and with Russia in particular.

In this time of challenge, I am asking the prime minister to address Congress on the grave threats radical Islam and Iran pose to our security and way of life.