Joint Chiefs Chairman Opposed Lifting Ballistic Missile Embargo on Iran
Not that it stopped Obama.
July 29, 2015
Daniel Greenfield
Not that it stopped Obama. Apparently Iran's "peaceful" nuclear program just won't be complete without some peaceful ballistic missiles.
There were reports that the Pentagon had opposed this and now it's been laid out. Obama's minions are no doubt fuming, but Dempsey has had to carry a lot of Obama's dirt and now he's trying to leave with as much honor as he can.
In a break with the White House, outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Martin Dempsey said Wednesday he advised against lifting sanctions on weapons and ballistic missile shipments to Iran as part of the new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Asked directly by Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-N.H.) if he voiced opposition on that part of the pact, Dempsey said: “Yes … and I used the phrase ‘as long as possible,’ and then that was the point at which the negotiation continued.”
“But, yes, that was my military advice,” Dempsey, who is retiring in September, told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The sanctions prohibiting the shipment of parts for ballistic missiles to Iran are due to expire in eight years, according to the agreement that was struck July 14. Economic penalties for shipping conventional arms will be lifted in five years.
Dempsey also rejected President Barack Obama’s July 15 statement that, “Without a deal, we risk even more war in the Middle East.” Dempsey flatly told Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) that “at no time did that come up in our conversation, nor did I make that comment.”
He added: “I can tell you that we have a range of options and I always present them.”
On a trip this month to Iraq and Afghanistan, Dempsey expressed other reservations with the accord. He said “there is every reason to believe” Iran will use increased revenues from the lifting of sanctions to fund the country’s “malign activities”.
Obama reportedly responded by sticking his fingers in his ears and chanting, "I can't hear you. But I'm getting another Nobel Prize anyway."
