US envoy Huckabee skeptical diplomacy can avert Iran military action
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee said he hopes a diplomatic accord with Iran can be reached but expressed skepticism that military action can ultimately be avoided, as US-Iran nuclear talks resume in Geneva on Tuesday.
“Will there be anything that can come from that that will bring peace? I honestly don’t know. I know there’s a lot of significant and legitimate doubt that the Iranians will ever agree to something that would cause them to lay down any ambitions of nuclear weaponry,” Huckabee said while speaking to Jewish leaders at a Conference of Presidents gathering in Jerusalem.
Huckabee said US President Donald Trump had made clear military action was “not his first choice.”
He added the president’s “absolute desire” was to ensure Iran does not continue to wreak havoc globally.
“At some point, the United States needs to say: enough is enough, we’re not going to continue to believe that they’re ever going to be different than they are. And it’s time for them to either make a radical change of their point of view and their direction, or for them to experience what we call in the south, the ‘second kick of a mule,’” he said.
Huckabee said Israel and the United States were “absolutely aligned in our understanding that Iran has to be dealt with and it cannot continue as it is.”
“They cannot remain a nuclear threat. They cannot continue to build extraordinary surpluses of ballistic missiles and aim them, not just at Israel, but also at the rest of the world,” he said.
Huckabee added it would be “miraculous if some deal could be reached that would thwart the need, the necessity, the absolute certainty of some military action.”
