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Didn’t he learn what deterrence is? Cruz insists Iran wants to nuke American cities, puzzles Twitter
Ted Cruz insists Tehran’s grand dream is to nuke American cities and that Iran nuclear deal is to blame for the attack on Saudi oil facilities. The argument was mocked for making no sense, but the hawkish US senator doubles down.
The Texas legislator and one of the most vocal cheerleaders of Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran went to the pages of New York Post on Friday to warn the public of an imminent danger. More international sanctions against Iran may soon be dropped under the 2015 nuclear deal, which means Tehran is drawing closer to obtaining nuclear weapons that “could incinerate American cities with a single flash of light.”
America must act now and invoke the so-called snapback mechanism outlined the nuclear deal to keep the sanctions in place and also cut Iran entirely from the global financial system, Cruz said.
If you are somewhat puzzled by this line of argument, you are not alone. After all, how can Trump use the nuclear deal, from which he withdrew in the first place, to cudgel Iran more? And what Tehran may hope to win by killing millions of American civilians even if it had the capability to do it?
The suggestion that Iran’s ambition is to do in New York what the Americans did in Hiroshima and Nagasaki is hardly new for Cruz, but it comes as tensions in the Persian Gulf intensified after Washington and Riyadh claimed Tehran was responsible for the attack on Saudi oil facilities. The Op Ed was criticized by a number of people, among which the senator singled out Nicholas Miller, an assistant professor in Dartmouth College who incidentally conducts research in nuclear proliferation.
“I’m curious, what does he think Ayatollah Khamenei means when he refers to USA as ‘The Great Satan’ & chants ‘Death to America’? Here’s an idea: Don’t give him billions of $$ to find out,” Cruz tweeted.
A Dartmouth prof doubts that Iran seeks nuclear weapons & they would use them on US cities. I’m curious, what does he think Ayatollah Khamenei means when he refers to USA as “The Great Satan” & chants “Death to America”? Here’s an idea: Don’t give him billions of $$ to find out. https://t.co/lvZIDGifaH
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) September 21, 2019
Cruz’s outburst drew quite a few snide remarks on Twitter. Commenters suggested he probably missed classes when they were teaching how nuclear deterrence works. Or simply cannot imagine that the Iranian leadership learned their lesson from Saddam Hussein and Muamar Gaddafi. The two leaders dropped nuclear ambitions only to find themselves later on the receiving end of US military machine.
The notion that Iran would develop a nuclear weapon and then use it on American city is beyond ridiculous. That Ted Cruz is mocking someone for pointing that out is very on brand for Ted Cruz https://t.co/RjCgct3ajj
— Michael Cohen (@speechboy71) September 21, 2019
The UN nuclear watchdog said Tehran followed its obligations under the nuclear deal for over a year since Washington divulged on its. And to answer the senator’s question, Iran’s supreme leader means “death to the US’s policies, death to arrogance”, according to Khamenei himself. But these details seem to have little effect on Texas senator’s opinion.
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