National Security Adviser John Bolton was so delighted with the Trump administration’s reimposition of sanctions against Iran, I half expected him to start singing “At Last” during his smug visit to Fox News in what passed for an interview there.
Chickenhawk Bolton has been lusting for war against Iran and North Korea for years now and with war against North Korea not in the immediate future, he didn’t bother to hide his excitement at the prospect of conflict with Iran – while pretending that’s not what he’s about right now.
“The value of its currency is going through the floor,” Bolton said, without indicating a scintilla of concern for the hardship that might be causing millions of Iranians. He sounded upbeat as he reported on demonstrations and riots around the country over the economy before announcing that more sanctions will be put on the country in 90 days.
“This is an indication of how strongly we feel that the Iranian nuclear weapons program, its ballistic missile program, its support for terrorism, its belligerent activity in the Middle East have to stop,” Bolton lectured.
Too bad he didn’t feel so strongly about Russia’s belligerent activity in the U.S. Oh, that’s right, sanctions on Iranian oil are a gift to Russia. What a coincidence!
Host Bill Hemmer feigned a challenge: “Let’s call it for what it is. You’re trying to break the regime’s back economically, are you not?”
“Our policy is not regime change but we want to put unprecedented pressure on the government of Iran to change its behavior. So far, they’ve shown no indication they’re prepared to do that. … We are not going to allow Iran to get nuclear weapons,” Bolton said. You could almost hear him smacking his lips.
“I think this regime is on very shaky ground,” Bolton said. If he had any concerns about further instability in the region, he didn’t show it. “But what we’re focused on is the nuclear weapons program, the missiles, the support for terrorism and the belligerent activity militarily,” Bolton continued.
Would that be the nuclear weapons program that international inspectors found Iran in compliance with? Hemmer didn’t bring up that inconvenient fact. Maybe because it would be too reminiscent of the needless invasion of Iraq - which Bolton still thinks was a great idea.
The imposition of sanctions is dangerous, ill-considered and could have similarly catastrophic ramifications. Yet Hemmer never mentioned any of them.
Watch Bolton celebrate the sanctions below, from the August 6, 2018 America’s Newsroom.
