US got nothing from Iran agreement: GOP politician

American author and politician Mike Huckabee  says the United States has got nothing out of the nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries.  

“We got nothing out of this deal, John, I read the whole thing,” former Arkansas Governor Huckabee told host John Dickerson during an interview on CBS News on Sunday, The Hill reported.  

Last week, Huckabee, a 2016 Republican presidential candidate, compared the conclusion of Iran nuclear talks to the Holocaust, saying President Barack Obama was taking Israelis "to the door of the oven."

Huckabee was strongly condemned for make the controversial remarks not only by Obama but also by his fellow Republicans. On Sunday, he tried to defend his comments.

"My comments, while the president may have called them ridiculous, what's ridiculous is that we would ever trust the Iranians who for 36 years have vowed that they will wipe Israel off the face of the map, and have vowed that they will bring to death to America, and chanted it even during the negotiations," he said.

He said that “as a person who has been going to Israel dozens of times over the past 42 years since 1973 and as a person who has stood in Auschwitz on three different occasions and understood the gravity of the situation.”

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany – announced the conclusion of nuclear negotiations in the Austrian capital Vienna, on July 14, following more than two weeks of intensive talks.

According to the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran will be recognized by the United Nations as a nuclear power and will continue its uranium enrichment program.

But some restrictions will be placed on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Republican candidates are opposing the nuclear agreement to avoid angering the pro-Israel lobby and preventing their Democratic rivals from getting any political advantage by resolving the Iranian nuclear issue.

In his interview, Huckabee also accused the Obama administration of seeking profits by reaching an agreement with the Islamic Republic.

“I believe it’s a money deal,” he said. “If you look through, there are dozens of pages of all the companies and entities that are going to have their assets unfrozen.”

“I cannot help but believe that a lot of this is being driven not to secure peace in the Middle East, not to make the world safer, but to make sure that a lot of people with a lot of money get their money back,” Huckabee said. “And that’s a tragedy.”

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