Clinton: Iran's Provocative Behavior Could Undermine Nuclear Agreement

Hillary Clinton, the leading Democratic candidate in the U.S. presidential election, stated that Iran's "provocative behavior" could undermine the nuclear agreement with the United States, and in such a case, the military option should not be "taken off the table." Reuters reported Mrs. Clinton's remarks during a Washington forum hosted by the Brookings Institution on Sunday evening, December 6. The report did not elaborate further on her positions regarding Iran, but this leading Democratic candidate had previously emphasized at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations that focusing on the battle against ISIS would not diminish pressure on Iran to fulfill its nuclear commitments. She also mentioned that Iran and the group known as the "Islamic State" should not be viewed as separate challenges, and increasing the confidence of U.S. Arab allies while simultaneously raising the costs of Iran's "bad behavior" would have a better impact on the fight against the "Islamic State." In this context, Mrs. Clinton referred to a plan she presented in September aimed at countering Iran's "influence in the region" and against "proxy terrorist groups like Hezbollah [Lebanon] and Hamas." Regarding Israel, Mrs. Clinton stated that if elected, she would advance her country's relations with Israel. She mentioned that as President of the United States, on her first day in office, she would invite the Israeli Prime Minister to visit the U.S. to work on strengthening and solidifying bilateral military relations. These statements come at a time when U.S.-Israeli relations, especially regarding how to deal with Iran and its nuclear program, have gone through years of tension, and leaders of the two countries recently met after more than a year of avoiding bilateral meetings. In a separate event, CNN reported on Hillary Clinton's remarks on ABC's "This Week," where she explained why she is reluctant to use the term "radical Islam." The former U.S. Secretary of State stated that she would not use the term "radical Islam" because it seems as if "we are declaring war against the religion." According to Mrs. Clinton, "This is unfair and unjust to the majority of Muslims in America and the world who are peace-loving." She also stated that using such terminology "helps build a war between civilizations, which is actually a recruitment tool for ISIS and other extremist jihadists who use this [idea] to say that we are at war against the West, so join us." CNN noted that since the Paris attacks, Mrs. Clinton, like Barack Obama and other Democratic candidates, has faced criticism for not using the term "radical Islamic terrorism" when referring to the ISIS attacks in Paris.