House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) admitted Sunday that the nuclear deal former President Obama had reached with Tehran was all but certain to remain in place — even as President Trump refused to rule out tearing it up.
“A lot of that toothpaste is already out of the tube. I never supported the deal in the first place. I thought it was a huge mistake, but the multilateral sanctions are done,” Ryan said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“I don’t think you’re going to go back and reconstitute the multilateral sanctions that were put in place,” Ryan said, adding that the U.S. should still “expend our effort where it can pay off the most.”
“I think the key is to rigorously enforce this deal,” said Ryan, who had been an aggressive opponent of the deal. Trump, too, campaigned on promises to pull out of the pact.
“But also, remember, they’re testing ballistic missiles. They’re still the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. Human rights abuses galore. And so those are where I think we also need to ratchet up sanctions,” Ryan added Sunday.
But in an interview with Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly that aired during the Super Bowl pre-game programming, Trump repeated his oft-stated criticism that the pact “was the worst deal I’ve ever seen.”
“I think it’s a shame that we had a deal like that, that we had to sign a deal like that. If you’re going to do it, make a good deal … we have nothing to show for it,” Trump said.
When asked whether he would “tear it up,” Trump wouldn’t rule it out.
“We’ll see what happens,” he said.
The dueling interviews came just two days after the Trump administration slapped new sanctions on Iran and just three days after the White House said it was “officially putting Iran on notice.”
The Treasury Department said Friday the sanctions target “multiple entities and individuals involved in procuring technology and/or materials to support Iran’s ballistic missile program” as well as companies that are involved with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
“Iran’s continued support for terrorism and development of its ballistic missile program poses a threat to the region, to our partners worldwide and to the United States,” said John Smith, the Treasury Department’s acting sanctions chief, in a statement.
The sanctions followed lawmakers in both parties calling for Trump to act on sanctions rather than talk tough following Iran’s nuclear test, and in the wake of a recent U.S. Navy Seal operation in Yemen that left an American soldier and dozens of Yemeni civilians dead and has been criticized by many national security experts.
