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Middle East Expert Warns U.S.-Iran Deal 'Could Be a Cold War Arrangement'

November 20, 2014

Middle East analyst and terrorism expert Walid Phares said that the rapidly approaching U.S. détente with Iran over its nuclear weapons program could result in a "Cold War arrangement" between the two countries.

Phares said the U.S. would be giving too much to Iran without getting anything in return.

"Number one, we're trusting too fast, and then we're giving to the Iranian regime without getting anything," Phares told Fox News host Jon Scott on Thursday. "What viewers need to understand is that this last year, this administration gave close to $1 billion from Iranian frozen money to the regime without getting anything back from the regime."

Moreover, Phares said the Obama administration has abandoned the opposition movement within Iran that is standing up to the oppressive regime run by Ayatollah Khamenei in Tehran.

"Number two, very serious, we have abandoned the Iranian opposition, so what kind of pressure do we have against the Iranian regime?" Phares said. "We have given them cash, and we cancel our support for the Iranian opposition. We're not going to get much from Tehran."

Phares said the Obama administration has "somehow" been convinced that the U.S. could reach some kind of positive deal with the Iranian regime. However, the short-sighted and overly eager deal with Iran may lead to a precarious arrangement resembling the U.S.-U.S.S.R. dynamic during the Cold War.

"I'm worried, and there are some signals out there that some in the administration believe that at the end of the day, the Iranians will obtain their missiles and their nukes and we have a political arrangement with them that would work," Phares said. "The Cold War kind of an arrangement. That could be very dangerous if true."