Mitt Romney used a speech at a pro-Israel conference in Washington Friday night to slam President Obama for sending a secret letter to Iranian leaders.
Romney said he was “stunned” that the administration would trust the “rogue” state to try to work together to confront the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“That the president would write a letter of this nature, in effect legitimizing a nation and a leadership that is violating international norms and is threatening the world, is so far beyond the pale, I was stunned. I was speechless,” Romney said in remarks at the Israeli American Council’s National Conference held at the Washington Hilton.
The former presidential candidate appeared emboldened just days after a historic Republican wave election in which the party wrested control of the Senate from Democrats.
Romney said Obama’s approach was “naïve” and said Tehran should be considered a “pariah,” its leaders shunned and dealt with only in limited diplomatic channels.
He was referring to a letter Obama penned to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in mid-October that appeared aimed at urging him to collaborate with the U.S.-led campaign against ISIS and moving him closer to a final deal placing limits on Tehran’s nuclear development.
The letter, first reported by the Wall Street Journal Thursday, set off a firestorm in Washington with Republicans denouncing it as another misguided attempt by Obama to engage with Tehran’s Islamist government.
White House press secretary Josh Earnest Thursday said the U.S. policy toward Iran has not changed but declined to comment on the letter.
“I’m not in a position to discuss private correspondence between the president and any world leader,” he said at a press briefing Thursday. “I can tell you that the policy that the president and his administration have articulated about Iran remains unchanged.”
Earnest said U.S. and Iranian officials had discussed efforts to confront and defeat ISIS on the sidelines of talks aimed at securing a permanent nuclear deal. He also said the U.S. would not cooperate military with Iran against the Islamic State and won’t share intelligence with them.
“But their interests in the outcome is something that’s been widely commented on — commented upon and something that on a couple of occasions has been discussed on the sidelines of other conversations,” he said.
More generally, Romney in his remarks Friday night argued that Obama has weakened the military and continues to apologize for America during international trips.
“Obama continues to diminish himself and America and leads bad people to think America can be pushed around,” he said.
When it comes specifically to Israel, he said Obama has been “divisive and dictatorial to our friends.”
Haaretz columnist Chemi Shalev earlier in the week predicted that the inaugural Israeli-American Conference would serve as an anti-Obama victory party.
“…It would be inhuman to expect Mitt Romney to refrain from some gloating and Schadenfreude at the groundbreaking meeting of expat Israelis,” he wrote.
The audience included 2012 Romney supporter Sheldon Adelson, who is also the IAC’s biggest sponsor. The IAC was created in 2007 to expand Adelson’s sphere of influence. It offers educational and cultural programs for expat Israelis, as well as pre-school and after-school activities and forums for community volunteers, according to Shalev.
Besides Romney, several other newsmakers are on hand for the IAC’s first Washington conference this weekend, including Hollywood media mogul Haim Saban, Sens. Lindsey Graham and Bob Menendez, as well as former Sen. Joe Lieberman, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Ron Dermer and former Israeli Ambassador Dan Gillerman.
