Donald Trump’s claim that he would sell faulty missiles to Iran falls “somewhere between absurd and dangerous,” one analyst told the Washington Examiner.
At a rally in Rochester, N.Y., on Sunday, the GOP front-runner first criticized the administration for unfreezing about $150 billion of Iran’s assets, but not lifting the sanctions that prevent Iran from doing business with the United States. As a result, Iran cannot spend its unfrozen money on American companies.
“When we hand them $150 billion, we should take the prohibition off for a little while, don’t you think? Let them buy from Rochester, N.Y. We don’t care if they’re from Iran right?”
He went on to say that if elected commander in chief, he would sell Iran about $12 billion worth of faulty missiles.
“We’ll sell them missiles that don’t work correctly. Right? Let them sue us,” Trump said during the rally, according to a transcript posted by a CBS reporter. “Oh, I’m sorry they don’t work. Gee that’s too bad. We’ll take in about $12 billion for missiles and they’ll say these missiles are terrible. And I’ll say, ‘Yup, that was the purpose of it.'”
Roger Zakheim, a visiting fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, said the claim represents a lack of seriousness seen in several aspects of Trump’s campaign.
“It’s another example in a series of gimmicky policy proposals that are deceptively attractive to the populous, but once you go ahead and pierce that veil, and all you need is a pin prick, you see how wanting is,” Zakheim said.
The idea has several problems, he said. In addition to questions of how he would get Iran to agree to a weapons deal with the U.S. after publicly stating over the weekend that the missiles would be faulty, selling Iran any missiles violates both U.S. and international law, Zakheim said. And selling missiles that don’t work “falls someplace between absurd and dangerous,” he said.
“It doesn’t really merit any more attention than probably what I’ve just given to you,” he said.
Zakheim was among the more than 100 national security thought leaders who signed an open letter on Trump last month, promising to do everything in their power to keep him from winning the presidency.
