Kaine, Pence clash over claim Clinton helped ‘eliminate’ Iran nuke program

Democrat Tim Kaine argued Tuesday evening that Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton helped eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program peacefully, a controversial claim that elicited a sharp response from his GOP counterpart.

{mosads}“She worked a tough negotiation with nations around the world to eliminate the Iranian nuclear weapons program without firing a shot,” Clinton’s running mate said in a tense exchange with Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, Donald Trump’s running mate, during the vice presidential debate in Farmville, Va.

The claim prompted an incredulous response from Pence, who served on the Foreign Affairs Committee during his previous career in the House.

“Eliminate the Iranian nuclear weapons program?” Pence asked in disbelief.

“Absolutely. Without firing a shot,” Kaine answered.

The Clinton campaign backed up Kaine’s assertion by releasing a memo summarizing her foreign policy accomplishments, including her work on the Iran nuclear deal as secretary of State.

“She twisted arms to convince even the Chinese and Russians to get on board and put in place crippling sanctions that eventually brought Iran to the negotiating table, leading to a historic deal that blocks its pathways to a nuclear weapon,” the campaign wrote in an email blasted out to reporters during the debate.

But the claim that the deal blocks Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon in the foreseeable future doesn’t sit well with senior Israeli officials.

As it was unveiled, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared, “Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons.”

“Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted,” he warned.

Naftali Bennett, one of Netanyahu’s allies, said, “Today a terrorist nuclear superpower is born, and it will go down as one of the darkest days in world history.”

Pence challenged Kaine’s characterization of the Iran nuclear deal more pointedly later in the debate.

“That’s not what Israel thinks,” Pence said of the contention that the deal would stop Iran from developing a nuclear bomb, noting that Kaine, a Virginia senator, skipped Netanyahu’s speech before Congress last year.

Pence said while he a member of the House, he and his colleagues passed “the toughest sanctions literally in the history of the United States,” and the goal at the time was to lift them only “if Iran permanently renounced their nuclear ambitious.”

“They have not renounced their nuclear ambitions and when the deal’s period runs, there’s no limitation on them obtaining weapons,” Pence added, struggling to finish his sentence as Kaine tried to interject.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to reduce the number of its centrifuges from 19,000 to 6,000 and its stockpile of low-enriched uranium from 10,000 kilograms to 300 kilograms. Iran is also barred from enriching weapons-grade uranium for 15 years.  
Kaine countered by arguing that the agreement has the support of Gadi Eizenkot, chief of staff of the Israeli Defense Forces.

Eisenkot told a defense conference earlier this year that the deal was a “strategic turning point” that had removed the most serious threat to Israeli’s existence in the near term.