Texas Senator Ted Cruz blasted the incoming Biden administration, warning that its policies vis-a-vis Iran and the Iran nuclear deal could pose an existential threat to the State of Israel.
Speaking with Israel Hayom in an interview published Wednesday, Cruz lamented that the new administration would likely try to appease Tehran, but vowed that the US would remain committed to Israel's security.
"I think the greatest national security threat to Israel that will be posed by the Biden-Harris administration, will be their attempt to reestablish the disastrous Iran nuclear deal," Cruz said, blasting the Obama administration's transfer of billions of dollars to Tehran under the 2015 nuclear deal.
"The Biden Harris administration will set as their top foreign policy objectives, restoring that failed agreement. The single most important national security victory of the last four years was pulling out that disastrous deal."
Cruz said the new administration was leading US policy into a "dangerous chapter" which would empower the Islamist regime in Tehran.
"I fear we are headed into a dangerous chapter with the Biden-Harris administration, working actively to undermine the national security gains made in the last four years, and to reinvigorate the ayatollahs in Iran, which poses an existential threat to Israel."
Despite the change in administrations and the dramatic shift in policy vis-à-vis Iran, Cruz said the US would continue to “stand alongside Israel”.
The senator lashed out at what he called the “anti-Semitic far-left in the Democratic party”, citing controversial comments by Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
On Wednesday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called on incoming President Joe Biden to bring the US back into the Iran nuclear deal - and to drop sanctions on Tehran imposed during the Trump administration.
In a televised cabinet meeting Wednesday morning, Rouhani urged Biden to have the US rejoin the nuclear deal, and vowed that if the US did re-enter the deal and lift sanctions, Iran would "respect" its commitments in the agreement.
“The ball is in the U.S. court now. If Washington returns to Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal, we will also fully respect our commitments under the pact,” Rouhani said.
The Iranian president also gloated that Trump's strategy of 'maximum pressure' on Tehran had "completely failed".
“U.S. President Donald Trump’s political career is over today and his ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Iran has completely failed."