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EXCLUSIVE: ARLINGTON, Va., – Former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley is warning that the Biden administration must step up and hit Iran back with strength, instead of fostering a new nuclear deal, or else the United States and its allies will face long term consequences.
Haley spoke exclusively with Fox News Digital before her keynote address at the Christians United for Israel (CUFI) 2022 Washington Summit in Arlington, Virginia. The Christian organization, which boasts over 10 million members, is focused on defending Israel and fighting anti-Semitism across the country.
The former ambassador called Biden’s recent trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia “unfortunate” because of the president’s “disconnect with Iran.”
“Well, I think it’s unfortunate because when you go and you take an international trip, you want to have something that you can bring back. And I think when you look at his trip to Israel, while I think there were some things he did well, you know, in talking about our friendship with Israel and the things we wanted to do, I think the unfortunate part was, you know, when he was sitting there with Prime Minister Lapid, he talked about the fact that, you know, there was clearly a disconnect on Iran,” explained Haley.
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Nikki Haley says the Biden administration’s push for a new Iran Nuclear Deal will “come back to bite” the United States, Israel and other allies. (Kelly Laco/Fox News Digital)
“He’s talking about diplomacy with a country that continues to say death to America, death to Israel. That’s a disconnect with the people of Israel who are saying when Iran goes and threatens us, we need to stand together with strength. Biden didn’t show that strength. And, you know, it was Lapid was almost begging him to see how dangerous this is.
“We’ve got to stop. We’ve got to start being strong again. We’ve got to start showing strength with our allies. We’ve got to start showing strength with our enemies. And I just don’t think he did that,” Haley told Fox News Digital.
Haley specifically said that Biden’s push for a new Iran Nuclear Deal “defies all logic.”
“It defies all logic that Biden is falling all over himself to get into this Iran deal. I mean, all I can say is this is Obama 2.0. He’s just trying to fulfill something that Obama did. But it’s incredibly dangerous to America. It’s incredibly dangerous to Israel. Here you have Saudi Arabia who is basically the number one Arab leader in the region. They know the threats of Iran. We come across looking very naive. I mean, basically, you’ve watched Biden. He’s been tougher on Saudi Arabia than he’s been on Iran,” said the former ambassador.
“Iran is looking to build a nuclear weapon. Iran looking to follow through on their promise of death of America, death to Israel. We need to make sure that we’re countering that. And instead, he wants to give billions of dollars away to them. You can’t change a culture. And the idea that he thinks he can buy a culture is wrong and it’s naive, and it will come back to bite.”
When asked about the almost 1-year mark since the United States’ disastrous Afghanistan withdrawal, Haley said that it made the entire world less safe.
“The way the Biden administration handled Afghanistan made the world less safe. We would not have a war between Russia and Ukraine had Biden not handled Afghanistan the way he did. Basically, we left Bagram Air Force Base in the middle of the night without telling our allies who stood shoulder to shoulder with us for two decades because we asked them to be there. It sent a massive message to our friends. It sent a worse message to our enemies.”
Now, Haley said that China and other enemies of the United States, including Russia, have been emboldened.
“And now I think what you’re seeing is you’re seeing ISIS finding a new foothold. You’re seeing the Taliban continue to do things. You’re seeing all of the women’s rights that had come so far. I had been in Afghanistan. I met with those women leaders. I saw the progress. All of that has gone to the wayside. And then on top of all of that, you’re wanting to go and fund Iran. I mean, I think it is a massive step backwards. I think it’s the reason not only that you’re seeing Putin be aggressive in Ukraine, it’s the reason that you’re going to see Xi Jinping and China continue to be aggressive. It’s the reason you’re seeing Kim Jong Un in North Korea. It’s the reason that the ayatollah celebrated in Iran. This was a bad move all the way around. The only way we can right the ship is with strength and Biden has got to find that strength.”
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman fist bumps U.S. President Joe Biden upon his arrival at Al Salman Palace, in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Reuters)
Haley told Fox News Digital that America is too “distracted” to be able to get to China’s level on the world competition level and the U.S. must “wake up.”
“The biggest thing the Biden administration can do is wake up, wake up to the fact that China is our number one national security threat,” she said.
“We’ve got to be smart to them, and we haven’t done that. They said they would take Hong Kong. They did it. They’ve said that Taiwan belongs to them. We should believe them. We need to get in front of this, and we need to stop it.”
“When America is distracted the world is less safe. China is eating our lunch because of it.”
President Joe Biden is greeted by Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, right and President Isaac Herzog, left, as they participate in an arrival ceremony after Biden arrived at Ben Gurion Airport, Wednesday, July 13, 2022, in Tel Aviv. ((AP Photo/Evan Vucci))
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“When America is distracted, the world is less safe. And that is all played out. China and Russia are eating our lunch because we’re not paying attention. The biggest thing we can do is wake up, get strong and start leading again. When we do that, the world will be safer,” said Haley.
