Washington Examiner chief political correspondent Byron York spoke on the Hugh Hewitt Show Tuesday about the Iran war, saying, “I think we’re in something in the middle between war and peace with Iran.”
“The ceasefire lasted longer than the war itself. The president obviously does not want to resume full-scale hostilities, and there continues to be negotiations, which, I think, have some serious flaws in them, but there they are,” York said.
When host Hugh Hewitt asked York if he thinks “there’s much of a chance that Iran will, at this point, without further pounding, agree to give us the enriched uranium,” York said, “Well, I wonder if Iran, with further pounding, would agree to give us the enriched uranium.”
“I don’t know. I mean, obviously, the administration over the weekend coming up with the no-dust, no-dollars thing, says that there’s not going to be any settlement at all unless Iran turns over the enriched uranium. So I don’t think we’ve gotten any indication from the Iranians,” York said.
“They’ve always said ‘well, we don’t want to have a nuclear program,’” York said.
“I think it was a mistake, [for] the United States to enter into a war with a single ally that had different interests than ours. I think this Lebanon thing is a very complicating factor. I think Israel can do what it wants to do in Israel, in Lebanon,” York said. “But it’s part of, since they’re our ally, in Iran, it’s part of this whole deal.”
Hewitt said that yesterday, President Donald Trump posted that all of U.S. allies have to join the Abraham Accords, adding that it’s “brilliant jiu jitsu” for the Gulf states that aren’t already in the Abraham Accords to say, “You want our help, you’re going to join the Abraham Accords.”
York agreed it was a brilliant stroke and that it set off the “Trump derangement syndrome,” saying, “They thought, well, Trump has messed this up. He’s dug himself into a hole, and now he’s trying this Hail Mary play to try and get out of this hole and we the resistance don’t want him to get out of this hole.”
TRUMP CONVENES CABINET AS IRAN PEACE EFFORT REMAINS STUCK IN SECOND GEAR
In naming the countries that are listed in the accord, Hewitt noted that the key ones would be Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. He then asked York which ones he thought would have a problem signing on.
“The biggest and most important is Saudi Arabia, and I almost think, I’m not saying any of these would be easy, but that they would be the first one to do it,” York said.