Energy Independence To Stop Iran Nukes: Cain

The Right Perspective

Presidential hopeful Herman Cain has put is lack of foreign policy skills on full display yet again, this time by claiming an energy independence strategy would stop Iranian plans to build nuclear weapons.

“The way you stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon is for us to get serious about a real, energy-independence strategy,” the Godfather’s Pizza CEO said during a recent interview with FOX News commentator Bill O’Reilly on June 10.

A Wall Street Journal report indicates Iran, despite setbacks from the Stuxnet computer virus attack of 2009, is producing a considerable amount of low-grade uranium for peaceful purposes, and “can now produce a weapon’s worth (20 kilograms) of HEU [weapons-grade uranium] any time it wishes.” FOX News quoted Israel’s minister of strategic affairs, Moshe Yaalon, as putting the date at sometime in 2013.

Understanding that an energy independence policy would take longer than a year to work, O’Reilly asked Cain, “How do you stop them from getting a nuke this year?”

“Have a serious strategy, Bill, and if you have a serious strategy, it’s going to cause the speculators to speculate down, instead of speculating up,” Cain replied.

“But that’s not going to stop Iran,” O’Reilly noted. “Even if gas prices go down, it’s not going to stop Iran from developing a nuke.”

“Not in the short-term, Bill, but here’s my punchline: if we help drive the price of oil down, that hurts Iran, and if the price of oil gets down near $70/barrel, we win, they won’t have the money to develop a nuclear program,” Cain said.

While the issue of Iranian pursuit of nuclear weapons is a subject that has been problematic for both presidents Bush and Obama, this marks the third significant stumble Cain has made on important issues in foreign policy. During the first Republican debate last month, he refused to opine about Afghanistan because he lacks inside information; the second, and perhaps most glaringly dubious, was his infamous blankout when asked about the Palestinian Right of Return.

Cain was blasted for his plan by Jonathan Tobin at Commentary Magazine, who labeled the Republican a “foreign policy ignoramus at large.”