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Gallagher: Biden's Trip to Middle East Presents Opportunity to Shift His Policy in Region

July 13, 2022

This morning, Rep. Gallagher joined Bill Hemmer and Sandra Smith on America's Newsroom to discuss President Biden's trip to the Middle East and his strategic incoherence on Iran and the Abraham Accords

Click HERE to watch the full interview, or read highlights from the conversation below.

On President Biden's strategic incoherence in the Middle East:

"President Biden has a big opportunity to change course to shift away from a failing foreign policy in the region, but that requires him to understand the sources of that failure. I fear they're doubling down on those sources. Foremost among them is the Iran nuclear deal itself -- that is what is driving Saudi Arabia and Israel away from America because we are attempting to embrace their mortal enemy. It's also screwing up our broader foreign policy because of course, Iran is part of the de facto alliance with Russia and China against America. Iran is reportedly supplying UAVs to Russia in order to kill Ukrainians. Iran and China just signed a 25 year economic cooperation agreement because of course, China wants to buy Iranian oil and sell weapons to Iran. So our attempted embrace of Iran is creating strategic incoherence. And this is an opportunity for the President to understand that, to shift away from that, and to start treating allies like allies and enemies like enemies."

On Biden's deference to Iran:

"The Middle East is in increasing chaos because Iran is on the march. This administration on day one shifted from a policy of maximum pressure that was working under the Trump administration to a policy of maximum deference to Iran. Iran's terrorist proxies have gotten worse, And of course, our own energy security has gotten worse because the Biden administration correspondingly launched a war on domestic energy production, which is now forcing this President to go hat in hand begging Saudi Arabia to help get him out of an energy crisis of his own making."

On the Administration's position on the Abraham Accords:

"I think this repeated insistence on reviving the Iran nuclear deal at any costs is dangerous, it's counterproductive, and I do think it is an impediment to expanding on the Abraham Accords. Now the Biden administration has paid rhetorical lip service to the Abraham Accords. I welcome that, I like this idea of the president flying from Israel to Saudi Arabia. They have, however, nominated in key positions, in USAID, for example, people that are vehemently opposed to the Abraham Accords, and have said any number of things in opposition to the Abraham Accords. So again, this is creating some incoherence that I think this president needs to iron out. And my hope is that they will learn on this trip that they have an opportunity to unite our traditional allies, both Israel and the Sunni Arab Gulf States, in opposition to our foremost regional enemy, which is the terrorist-supporting regime in Iran, which wants to destroy Israel, wipe it off the map, as well as destroy all of our interest in the region."