Hikind calls Iran deal ‘naive and dangerous’

July 15, 2015 By Paula Katinas Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Assemblymember Dov Hikind offered blistering criticism of the agreement. Photo courtesy Hikind’s office

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Calling Iran “the world’s number one sponsor of state terrorism,” Assemblymember Dov Hikind blasted the deal the U.S. reached with Iran in which crippling economic sanctions against Iran would be lifted in exchange for that country dismantling its program to build a nuclear bomb.

The U.S.-Iran agreement was announced on Wednesday.

Almost immediately after news broke of the historic agreement, Hikind (D-Borough Park-Midwood-Kensington) issued a statement sharply criticizing the deal, charging that the Iranians can’t be trusted to keep up their end of the bargain.

Hikind, whose assembly district is home a large number of Holocaust survivors, has long been considered a champion of Israel. Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, announced his vehement opposition to the agreement.

The deal is a major blunder on the part of the Obama Administration, according to Hikind.

“The agreement announced today with Iran, the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism, is extraordinarily naive and dangerous. Based on initial reports, this is a total capitulation. The only winner is Iran. The deal essentially paves Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon,” Hikind stated on Wednesday.

“Iran supports Hamas and Islamic Jihad in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, and other terror proxies globally, and continues to prop up the Assad regime in Syria. Just this past Friday, on Iran’s Al-Quds Day, we saw once again a mob burning American flags and chanting ‘Death to Israel, Death to America.’ And who was participating in this vitriol display of hate? The ‘moderate’ president of Iran, Hassan Rouhani. This is what Iran says before an agreement, can you imagine what will happen now that Iran stands to receive billions of dollars in frozen assets?” Hikind said

“You can tell a lot about this deal by who supports it: Putin and Assad. I call upon my colleagues in Congress to block this deal. Any agreement that empowers terrorism is a disaster. Iran will be laughing all the way to the bank, continuing to fund its terror activities, sowing instability in the Middle East, and harming U.S. national security interests around the world,” Hikind said.

Other lawmakers also expressed skepticism with the U.S.-Iran agreement.

U.S. Rep. Daniel Donovan, the only Republican member of the New York City delegation, said that he planned to study the agreement, but didn’t like what he had learned of it so far.

“The original goal of negotiating with Iran was to dismantle their nuclear program, but this Administration’s insatiable quest for legacy building morphed it into simply managing their proliferation, all but guaranteeing a nuclear-armed Iran in the next decade. The President consistently negotiated from a position of weakness, unable to even get our four American hostages returned. Sadly, this could be the most dangerous diplomatic agreement of our lifetime,” Donovan (R-C-Southwest Brooklyn-Staten Island) stated.

“In the coming days, I will be closely analyzing the details of the agreement and the best course of action,” said Donovan, a member of the House Homeland Security Committee.

U.S. Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) was non-committal.

“Over the coming days, I intend to go through this agreement with a fine-tooth comb, speak with administration officials, and hear from experts on all sides. I supported legislation ensuring that Congress would have time and space to review the deal, and now we must use it well. Supporting or opposing this agreement is not a decision to be made lightly, and I plan to carefully study the agreement before making an informed decision,” Schumer said in a statement.