Michael Bloomberg, in a speech designed to attract Jewish voters to his Democratic presidential campaign, said Sunday that despite his opposition to the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran, he also opposed the way President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from it, saying it was “tantamount to giving Iran permission to re-launch its nuclear program.”
In remarks prepared for delivery in Miami, the 2020 Democratic presidential candidate said he spoke out against the 2015 deal at the time because it should have done more to address Iran’s ballistic missile program and other concerns. But Trump shouldn’t have left the deal made with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany because Iran is once again moving toward the development of a nuclear weapon after years of compliance, he said.“
As president, I will work to make the strongest deal possible to constrain the Iranian regime’s aggression and territorial ambitions, and put an end to their nuclear program, because the world must never allow Iran to threaten Israel and the whole region with a nuclear attack,” Bloomberg said in his prepared remarks.
Bloomberg also addressed the rise in anti-Semitic violence in America. He said that while one person can’t be blamed for it, Trump’s rhetoric, support of conspiracy theories and silence about racist groups means “there is just no escaping the direct line between his conduct in office and the rise of violent attacks targeted at minority groups.” He vowed to launch a national effort to crack down on violent extremists.
The former New York mayor also said Trump is harming the U.S. relationship with Israel because the president is “trying to use Israel as a wedge issue for his own electoral purposes,” adding, “We must never let Israel be a football that American politicians kick around in an effort to score points.”
Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg. This post is part of Campaign Update, our live coverage from the 2020 campaign trail.
