Brad Sherman, California Democrat: Iran Deal Is ‘Terrorism With Impunity’

Brad Sherman (Chip Somodevilla / Getty)
Chip Somodevilla / Getty

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) has come out strongly against the Iran deal, warning that the Iran deal means “terrorism with impunity.”

In an interview with Breitbart News, Sherman–whose 30th district includes parts of the San Fernando Valley and Simi Valley–said that the Iran agreement was “the good, the bad and the ugly” of deals–and that the bad and ugly portions of it far outweighed the good.

“My goal is to make sure all Americans know this is not morally or legally binding on the U.S. and the world, because I see how ugly this deal is in the next decade,” Sherman said in an interview with Breitbart News.

“Everything Iran is doing has a legitimate cover,” Sherman warned. “In international affairs, everybody lies some of the time, and Iran lies much more often.”

Sherman addressed his heated exchange with Secretary of State John Kerry during last week’s hearing before the House Foreign Affairs Committee where Kerry refused to answer whether he would follow the law and commit to congressionally-imposed sanctions should Congress garner enough votes to override President Obama’s veto.

“As a lawmaker, I like for people to follow the law… [Kerry] won’t even respond with a hypothetical. It’s not like some weird hypothetical. I want to know what the administration will do, and his refusal to answer was very clear….Congress can reactivate a statute, and [they] may ignore it.”

When asked to address Kerry’s statements that this deal makes Israel safer, Sherman said, “Safer than what? It’s short-term effect is better than its long-term,” but in the long run, the deal could wind up having a devastating effect on both the United States and Israel. “It’s good and bad the first year, but it’s ugly the next decade.”

Sherman said he does not doubt that Iran will cheat during this entire process, pointing out that “the important cheating starts after the first nine months.”

He said that Obama’s move to snub Congress by going to the United Nations Security Council first “is part of the proof that all powers of President Obama are with the deal [and] not with his congressional critics. The president is for the deal and a vote in Congress does not change his mind and if he has to make additional concessions to Iran to save the deal, he will….[Obama] believes this deal is not just good for America, it’s great for America–and he honestly believes this.”

Sherman told Breitbart News that he favors economic sanctions against the Iranian regime “until they change their non-nuclear behavior,” including their rampant human rights abuses and their explicit support for the Houthis in Yemen, Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. “And those are just the [terrorist] groups beginning with ‘h’. Plus, their support of the brutal murderer [Bashar al-] Assad [of Syria], who is killing 5,000 people a month.”

He also noted that Iran is actively seeking to build inter-continental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), which are known to be used for delivering nuclear weapons. “It’s clear that they want [nuclear weapons] and a delivery system for them. It’s all coming together but it may come sooner than 15 years,” Sherman said. He believes Iran’s missile research could be done in secret facilities which are barred from external access, including by the IAEA.

“When Obama says we’ve blocked every path to a bomb, he failed to point out that one of the routes to a bomb is to buy [one], and that has not been blocked out. North Korea will sell bombs to Iran.” He suggested that on implementation day, Iran will receive close to $56 billion in sanctions relief, and that it could choose to use a portion of those funds to purchase nukes from the Hermit Kingdom.

“There’s nothing in the deal that says we will monitor the $56 billion to make sure that $10 billion doesn’t go towards buying nukes from North Korea. The hope is that there’s enough pressure on North Korea to prevent them from selling to Iran.”

Should the regime eventually be in danger of collapsing in the face of revolution, Sherman said he doubted it would go out without a bang. “This is not a group of people who wants to walk off the stage peacefully….Only desperate nations actually use their nuclear weapons. With nuclear Iran you get terrorism with impunity.”

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz and on Facebook.

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