Philip Mudd: Iran Isn’t On The Path To Nukes, US Is Threatening Stability In The Region

Former CIA Deputy Director Philip Mudd told CNN Tuesday that the Trump administration’s actions on Iran are alienating the globe. Mudd, who served with the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center and the FBI’s National Security Branch, questioned the reasoning behind the administration’s actions.

“It seems the situation is getting more precarious, and I wonder if you can tell what the US strategy is here?” CNN’s John Berman asked.

“I can’t,” Mudd said. ” I mean, if you want to isolate the Iranians you have to have some people on board, including people who both trade with the Iranians and buy their oil. That includes people who aren’t necessarily on our sid – the Russians, the Chinese.”

“That also includes people who are – the Europeans and the Japanese,” he said. “We’ve given these people, who we need to isolate Iran, no reason to join us. We have a nuclear deal we stepped away from and the Europeans are saying why did you do that? The Iranians are complying?”

“We have obviously oil going through the Arabian Sea, and you have people like the Japanese, the Chinese, who buy a ton of Iranian oil, saying, can you please ensure you don’t ratchet up tensions so we can buy oil?”

“If we’re trying to get the globe with us, I think the globe is looking at us saying, we don’t want to go with you because you’re threatening stability in the region for a country that is Iran who is on the path to doing nothing on nukes. I think a lot of people are saying what the heck is up with this?”

Mudd is correct that Iran was complying with the 2015 nuclear agreement, which the Trump administration pulled out of against the advice of its European allies.

Watch the video above, via CNN.