Roy Blunt: Iran Is ‘on a Certain Path To Have Nuclear Weapons Capability In Ten Years’
CHUCK TODD: And we still have to figure out how to verify. Let me ask you about another nuclear issue. And that is the Iran deal. Uh the Defense Secretary uh testified on Capitol Hill this week and gave um a very interesting answer about his views on the Iran deal. Here it is. I'm curious what you think.
DEFENSE SECRETARY JAMES MATTIS: I've read it now three times, all 156 pages or whatever it is. And I will say that it is written almost with an assumption that Iran would try to cheat, so the verification, what is in there, uh, is actually pretty robust.
CHUCK TODD: Now Secretary Mattis is being careful that, perhaps, not to say uh uh uh -- telling the president to stay in or out. But he's making the case for staying in. Um do you take do you-- does that interpretation give you more confidence in the Iran deal?
SENATOR ROY BLUNT: You know, if we stay in, I would be very much where President Macron, Prime Minister Macron was, where he said, "We ought to stay in the deal, but here are the three things that absolutely have to change." It was one of the more interesting, we're definitely in the deal, but here are the three things that have to change--
CHUCK TODD: So that gave you some confidence.
SENATOR ROY BLUNT: Well, it's actually the three things the president has been saying need to change in the deal, as well. And also remember, Iran is a bad actor in lots of areas. And the Iran deal doesn't cover all their bad activities. Uh we can do sanctions on Iran, even if you stay in the Iran deal, that don’t rela -- doesn't relate to nuclear. Iran is very dangerous. And they are on a certain path to have nuclear ca -- weapons capability in ten years unless the government would, in a very unlikely way, change its view of itself and the world.
CHUCK TODD: You know, sometimes it's weird how we're treating Kim Jong-un versus how we treat the Iranians. Kim Jong-un essentially murdered an American citizen in Otto Warmbier. It's very possible, the way he was treated over there, he was essentially murdered.
SENATOR ROY BLUNT: Plus probably his own brother and his uncle.
CHUCK TODD: And he has murdered other people. He has starved his own people. The Iranians don't starve their own people. It it it --you know, and yet, we're sort of now feeling comfortable cozying up with Kim Jong-un and demonizing the Iranians. It just feels like we're sending some odd messages around the world.
SENATOR ROY BLUNT: Well, I don't know, Chuck. I think you want to be sure you learn the lesson of North Korea, which is don't let countries that have bad inclinations all over the world wind up with nuclear weapons. We we we are with -- we are with Iran right now where we would have been with North Korea 15 years ago, and it's foolish to let Iran become another North Korea. And we're not dealing with Kim Jong-un because we think he's a good guy.
