The world is on fire, and the U.S. needs to do more to stop it, according to John Boehner.
“I wouldn’t have believed that I would be involved in as much foreign policy as I am today,” the Republican speaker of the House told Politico from his hotel in Jerusalem. “And it certainly isn’t by choice. It’s just that the world is on fire. And I don’t think enough Americans or enough people in the administration understand how serious the problems that we’re facing in the world are.”
Boehner is currently abroad visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, nearly a month after his decision to invite him to speak before Congress on a nuclear deal with Iran — a decision that sparked criticism from both congressional Democrats and the Obama administration alike. Now, talks between Iran and six world powers regarding the country’s nuclear program are at a critical stage.
In the U.S-led talks, Boehner said Iran’s “boldness” has been what has surprised him the most. The “trouble they’re causing,” he said, “raised my eyebrows.”
“We’ve got some big, serious problems, and there’s no overarching strategy to deal with it. You’ve heard me say this for two years. I am even more convinced of it today,” Boehner said, adding, “Here’s the essence of what I’ve learned on this trip: The problem is growing faster than what we and our allies are doing to try to stop it.”
Should there be no deal, Congress will pass a new bill imposing sanctions against Iran, he said. If there is a deal, Congress will have to review it to approve it, but he is “sure we’ll have a reaction.”
“What bothers me is it looks like the administration is so hungry for a deal just to have a deal so they can say they have a deal,” Boehner said. “The rest of the world wants something real out of this.”
As soon as Boehner returns to America, he plans to meet with President Obama to discuss foreign policy.
“When you look at what we’re doing, we’re involved with some allies trying to hold Iraq together,” he said. “We’re involved with some of our allies in trying to deal with [Islamic State.] And we’re in these talks with the people who describe us as Satan, like we’re going to come to some agreement with the Iranians, while they’re spreading terror all over the Middle East.
“We’ve got allies who are doing a little of this and a little of that. But when I talk about overarching strategy, what I’m talking about is a large plan that involves intelligence, it involves the military, it ought to involve Islamic leaders, there ought to be a communications operation — there are lots of components of this that need to happen and be coordinated with our allies if we’re going to tackle this problem.”
