WASHINGTON – When asked about President Trump’s handling of Iran, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the 2016 Democratic presidential nominee, said on Monday that the U.S. should continue working diplomatically to “put a lid” on Iran’s nuclear program.
Iran has reportedly increased its uranium production.
Trump tweeted on Sunday that “if Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again.”
Clinton spoke at a memorial service for Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.), former Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security Affairs in the Obama administration. After her speech, Clinton was asked for her take on President Trump’s handling of Iran.
“Well, Ellen was part of a long line of American security experts and diplomats who understood that you had to keep talking and trying to work toward agreements that could limit the danger of nuclear weapons, their spread, their use and so she came to that after spending all those years on the Armed Services Committee. She was well aware of all the risk and she just drove into the New START Treaty negotiations,” Clinton said on Monday.
“And as [General] Jim Jones said, [she] was one of the most responsible members of the American delegation to get that done. So, look, there’s a long tradition of trying to do that and that’s what we did with the Iran negotiations, put a lid on Iran’s nuclear program – that is what we should still be doing. You know, Winston Churchill famously said in his typical quotable fashion, jaw jaw jaw is always better than war war war,” Clinton added.
During her speech at the service, Clinton said Tauscher “brought her irrepressible passion, fearlessness and wholehearted joy to everything she did.”
“After the 2016 election, she became one of my most trusted confidantes to work through the consequences of that loss and the ongoing challenges facing our country. When I think of her, I think of that line from the Beatles song, The Two of Us. ‘You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches ahead.’ So it really hurt to say goodbye,” she said. “I’ll treasure those memories, though, for the rest of my life.”
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