As President Barack Obama and his national security team intensify the US campaign to sell the newly forged nuclear deal with Iran, a contender for the Republican Party nomination in 2016 said it would lead Israel “to the door of the oven” unless the US Congress takes action to block it.
The provocative remarks by Mike Huckabee, the former Governor of Arkansas, clearly evoking the Holocaust, add more kindling to an already raging debate in Washington about the wisdom of the deal reached earlier this month between Iran and six world powers, including the US and Britain.
“It is so naive that he would trust the Iranians… by doing so he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven,” Mr Huckabee told a conservative website. “This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.”
Meanwhile, the White House tried to play down reports that it was moving to ensure the release, of Israeli spy Jonathan Pollard, who by then will have served the minimum 30 years of his life sentence.
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The notion that the US might use the release of Mr Pollard, a hero to most Israelis, to help persuade Israel to tone down its criticism of the Iran deal has been widely criticised. But a spokesman for the National Security Council said: “There is absolutely zero linkage between Mr Pollard’s status and foreign policy considerations.”
