Rick Perry: I’d undo bad Iran deal ‘in a heartbeat’

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry appears to be on the side of Republican senators who signed onto a letter to Iranian leaders warning that any deal over Iran’s nuclear program without congressional approval is merely an agreement that could be undone by the next president.

“This Congress has no idea what’s in this plan — we have ideas about what’s in it,” Mr. Perry said Monday evening on Fox News’ “Hannity.” “But the president’s not being open and honest with Congress, and I will suggest to you the next president of the United States shouldn’t be held to this agreement at all.”

The letter, which has prompted strong pushback from congressional Democrats and the White House, was initiated by GOP Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and was signed by several of Mr. Perry’s potential rivals in the 2016 GOP presidential contest, including Ted Cruz of Texas, Marco Rubio of Florida, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

Mr. Perry said if the president makes a bad deal that he would undo it “in a heartbeat.”

He also suggested that the administration’s negotiating strategies could embolden people like Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“I can’t get into the president’s mind, but when I look at how Libya, Egypt, Syria — the real disconcerting thing for me is that while all of this is going on, Putin is watching this,” he said. “And I think that’s the reason he was given the green light, if you will, to annex Crimea, to go into Ukraine.”

“He saw how this administration was going to negotiate, which means every time there’s a red line drawn and someone crosses it and there’s no consequence — and that’s what concerns me about this,” Mr. Perry said. “We don’t know where the red lines are in this negotiation because they’re basically secret, but we do know one thing is that when red lines have been crossed in the past with this administration and you cross them, there’s no consequence.”

“That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu has great concern — I think that’s the reason those 47 senators signed this, and there ought to be a few Democrats who have great concern about what this does. What does this do to Israel?” he added. “The prime minister was spot on when he said he’s worried about the future of Israel, and we need to be worried about the security of the United States.”