Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani on Saturday said that the United States should take a stronger stance against Iran and also criticized President Barack Obama over his “reckless” actions when it comes to the Islamic Republic, according to The Associated Press (AP).
Giuliani spoke at a rally in Berlin organized by the exiled opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran, which recently warned that Iran has an underground top-secret site that is enriching uranium and has been hidden from the West for years.
The former mayor claimed that the government in Tehran, which is seeking to reach a deal with world powers to lift crippling international sanctions, "has proven to us that it shouldn't be trusted with any kind of nuclear capacity."
Anyone who thought otherwise was "stupid" or risking the kind of appeasement that Britain tried with Nazi Germany in 1938, he said, according to AP.
After his speech, Giuliani told AP that he believed Obama's actions on Iran were reckless.
"What he (Obama) is doing with Iran right now is extremely reckless and it's going to create an Iranian-controlled northern Middle East," Giuliani said. He cited Tehran's growing influence in Syria and Iraq, which he said could prompt a dangerous reaction from Iran's Sunni rival Saudi Arabia.
Giuliani previously expressed support for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s speech before Congress, telling Israeli television that Netanyahu’s speech came at the right time because it was given as Congress is discussing a possible deal with Iran on its nuclear program.
In a subsequent interview with the Israel Hayom newspaper, Giuliani said that most Americans share Netanyahu’s concerns over a nuclear Iran.
"You have to understand that I, as an American, fear a nuclear Iran no less than the Prime Minister of Israel and no less than Israeli citizens," he said.
"Think for a second - a bad agreement with Iran would give a group of irrational and insane people nuclear capability. If I were Netanyahu, I would go to the ends of the earth to discuss Iran's nuclear program - on any stage I was given and in every situation. In our case now, it's the Congress," he added.
Iran and the six world powers continue their talks which are aimed at turning an interim 2013 deal into a permanent agreement.
Talks to reach a permanent deal have continuously stalled and two deadlines for a final deal have been missed, with a third one looming on July 1 and an initial deal needing to be worked out by March 31.