Jayapal: ‘Should Not Be Threatening Military Might’, ‘Diplomacy Is Always the Way That We Should Go’

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “Situation Room,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) discussed Iran and said that “diplomacy is always the way that we should go. And if you remember, there was an Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated. Trump pulled us out of that. I think what we need to do is consistently think about how we are building those coalitions in any situation…And we should not be threatening military might. This is really sort of, I feel like we’re coming to the worst of American imperialism again, where it’s about greed and power and not about diplomacy.”

Co-host Wolf Blitzer asked, “[D]o you give President Trump any credit for his willingness, potentially, to stand up for peaceful protesters in Iran?”

Jayapal answered, “Well, I think that diplomacy is always the way that we should go. And if you remember, there was an Iran nuclear deal that was negotiated. Trump pulled us out of that. I think what we need to do is consistently think about how we are building those coalitions in any situation, whether it’s Iran, whether it’s Venezuela. And we should not be threatening military might. This is really sort of, I feel like we’re coming to the worst of American imperialism again, where it’s about greed and power and not about diplomacy. I certainly hope that the Iranians are willing to negotiate and that we sit down and we discuss what the path forward is without military intervention. That would be the ideal situation.”

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