The Obama administration went on an all-out media blitz on Wednesday to defend the president’s nuclear deal with the Ayatollah. A number of Obama’s advisers as well as the president, himself, stumbled in fighting back major criticism.
But none shot themselves in the foot in the manner National Security Adviser Susan Rice did when she attempted to rebut Wolf Blitzer’s assertions on Iran funding terrorists while on CNN with The Situation Room host.
Blitzer repeated the widespread concern that when Iran’s sanctions are lifted, the bad actor will have more resources to fund terrorists that destabilize the Middle East. Rice admitted that additional funding would almost certainly go to Iran’s military and extremists organizations that promote violence.
Rice pushed back on Blitzer’s claim that there would be no restrictions on the money Iran would be flushed with after a deal, meaning they could send money for weapons to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Hezbollah.
"They can’t do that, Wolf, because they’ll still be under the arms embargo that would prevent them from sending weapons anywhere," Rice countered.
The naive response, which ignored the fact that the arms embargo will be lifted as soon as five years from now, merited a simple reply from Blitzer.
"But what if they aren’t sending weapons, what if they are just sending money?"
A stumped Rice said, "They may be able to send money, yes."
Blitzer, not trying to beat a dead horse, tried to move on to another question. But Rice was not done just yet.
"By the way Wolf, just to be clear, they are sending money now while they are under sanction," Rice said.
"Yeah, but critics point out they will have a lot more money if, in fact, the sanctions are lifted," Blitzer said, stating the obvious.
"They will have more money," Rice admitted.
In one minute, Rice established the nuclear deal she’s advocating for places no restrictions on how Iran spends money, will give Iran a tremendous amount of money, and Iran will likely to use that money to fund America’s enemies. These are likely not the talking points the White House gave Rice before she went on air.