Columnist Pat Buchanan defended the Iran deal and said it wasn’t crucial to know whether Iran tested nuclear triggers at Parchin on Friday’s “McLaughlin Group.”
He was asked, “How important is it to know whether or not the Iranians tested nuclear triggers at Parchin?” Buchanan answered, “Listen, our intelligence knows what they did. John Kerry said before the thing was signed, we know what they were up to.” And that knowing whether or not the Iranians tested nuclear triggers is not crucial.
Earlier, he said that Parchin is “a military base. It’s not a nuclear weapon site. They weren’t apparently testing, allegedly, nuclear triggers or detonators. This was in 2003, before the program, according to the American intelligence agencies, all 16, shut down.”
Buchanan later added, “plutonium can’t be produced under this agreement, and uranium, high-grade uranium can’t be produced under this agreement, and that’s locked in. And without that, you ain’t got no bomb.”
After fellow panelist Tom Rogan argued, “They will weaponize first, though, that’s the problem, which is Parchin, they will build the ballistics, and then they will break out very quickly. That’s the snapback.” Buchanan responded, “Why would they do that when Israel’s got about 100 atom bombs and we got about 5,000?”
Rogan also said, “Look at what they’re doing in Iraq and Lebanon. That’s the problem.” Buchanan countered, “Look, in Syria and Iraq, they’re trying to stop ISIS.”
Buchanan later argued, “This is one of the advantages of the deal. Ten more years, those folks are going to grow older. And are they all really going to say, ‘What does the ayatollah say about how we should live our lives?’ The prospects are, if we keep them away [from] a bomb for 10 years, the odds are that it’s going to get better rather than worse. Now, it might get worse, but 10 years, or 15 years, no bomb, is fine.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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