Dick Cheney called the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran a "train wreck" that will never be forgotten and characterized it as a betrayal of U.S. allies in the Middle East during an interview with the Washington Free Beacon on Tuesday.
"I cannot explain [President Obama’s] motives other than he thinks this is going to be a great legacy for his presidency," said Cheney. "I think it’s going to be a train wreck, and he’s not going to want to claim it down the road. He’ll have to find a way to blame somebody else."
The former vice president is currently promoting his latest book, Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America, which he co-authored with his daughter Liz Cheney, a former State Department official.
Cheney weighed in on the Iranian nuclear deal and President Obama ahead of a congressional vote on the agreement later this month.
"Those who vote for it will at some point look back on it as a very bad vote," said Cheney. "The fact that [it would be] pumping over $100 billion to the world’s largest supporter of terrorism, lifting the embargo on things like ballistic missiles and conventional armaments, setting a path for [Iran] to pursue the development of nuclear weapons."
The former vice president said he believed Obama would spend his final months in office dealing with a wave of nuclear proliferation issues across the Middle East as a result of the deal.
He also said it was a betrayal of America’s allies in the region that would not be forgotten.
"I think Obama may want to claim it as his legacy as he leaves office, but I think it will never be forgotten in the Middle East as the time the United States turned its back on all its friends and allies and signed on with the mullahs in Tehran," said Cheney.
Cheney said Obama was "not prepared to use military force," which the former vice president said has often been the most effective answer to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East.
"I don’t think his threat of the possible use of military fore was ever credible with respect to the Iranians, they never believed he’d do it," said Cheney, noting that the U.S. and Israeli militaries successfully dealt with burgeoning nuclear threats in Iraq and Syria.
"In the past we’ve had proliferation problems in that part of the world, but oftentimes they were dealt with with military force," said Cheney. "So oftentimes that’s been the answer. I don’t think Obama ever considered it an option, therefore it was never a factor of Iranian consideration. [The Iranians] knew if they played hard-to-get he’d give them the store, and he did."
Exceptional: Why the World Needs a Powerful America hit bookshelves on Tuesday. It makes the case for U.S. global leadership, criticizes the Obama administration’s foreign policy, and lays out recommendations for American national security.