Retired U.S. Army Lt. Gen. William “Jerry” Boykin, who served as an original member of Delta Force, applauded President Trump’s leadership in withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal on Tuesday, and praised the decision as one of the most important global moves of his presidency.
Boykin, who served as an original member of the elite Delta Force, said on Fox’s “Your World” with Neil Cavuto that Trump’s decision is a “sterling example of international leadership,” Fox News reported.
“I am really proud of our President for what he has done and the decision he made today,” Boykin said.
The decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has been met with some criticism from U.S. officials and some countries around the globe, but Boykin likened the move to one of Trump’s other controversial actions: moving the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
“I think what you are going to see is the same thing when he moved the Embassy. When he said that he was going to move the Embassy to Jerusalem, everybody came back with a very negative reaction. But now you are seeing incrementally one by one other countries are making the same decision. I think we are going to see a similar thing in this,” Boykin said.
The President’s decision allows for a 90- to 180-day grace period before the full effects of withdrawing from the deal are implemented.
The U.S. will impose tough economic sanctions on Iran, while the other countries still involved with the JCPOA are trying to salvage it.
On the grace period, Boykin said: “I think that is a very positive thing too. I think this gives the Europeans countries in particular … time enough to save face and to negotiate in some way not only with each other, but certainly with Iran to come up with something that would either make this deal more palpable or to get out of it altogether themselves.”
Boykin stressed that if the European nations also decide to dismantle the deal and implement similar sanctions as the U.S., Iran would be even worse off.
“What the Iranians don’t want to see is the Europeans slap the sanctions on them, because the Europeans have made huge investments since the deal was signed in 2015, and they don’t want to lose those investments. They don’t want to lose businesses or corporations that have established business with the Iranians. That would be a severe blow to their economy,” he added.
The European Union has already called for a crisis meeting with Iran that is scheduled to take place in London on Monday in which the other countries in the JCPOA are likely to reassure Tehran that the nuclear deal is salvageable.
