Iranian nuclear deal could start arms race in Mid-East: Jindal

Republican presidential aspirant Bobby Jindal has asked his party leadership in the Congress to reject a nuclear deal with Iran, saying any such agreement could start an arms race in the Middle East.
"One, they should absolutely reject it (nuclear deal). Congress made a huge mistake in the bill they passed giving away some of their oversight authority," Jindal told Fox News.
"It's laughable that we're doing a deal with a regime that's still chanting 'death to America', they're not freeing our prisoners, they're not explicitly giving up their plutonium pathway, not giving up many of the other things that should be part of a good deal, much less saying they're going to cut off support for terrorism. Republicans should tell this administration a bad deal is worse than no deal," he said.

44-year-old Jindal, who recently announced his decision to run for US presidency in 2016, alleged that President Barack Obama seems determined to tell the Iranians what the US would not do.
"I think Republicans, I think the next Commander in Chief needs to make very clear to the Iranian regime, we will not allow them to become a nuclear power," he said.
"This President, in search of a legacy, could start a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. The Sunni countries, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey - they're not going to stand idly by and allow Iran to become a nuclear power. This President, his worst legacy may indeed be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East if Republicans and if the next commander in chief don't stand up and stop them," Jindal said.

The US and Iran have no diplomatic ties since the 1979 storming of the American embassy in Tehran and the 444-day hostage crisis that ensued.

Jindal, the Oxford-educated Indian-American, yesterday lashed out at his Republican Party to task for abandoning principles in favour of political expediency.
"As Supreme Court justices noted, the rulings last week made clear that words no longer matter and nor does the Constitution," the two-term Governor from Louisianahe said.
"And to make matters worse, many Republican pundits are joyful about the rulings. They are happy that the court upholding Obamacare relieves the GOP from having to create our own health care plan, and happy that the marriage ruling takes that issue off the table. In other words, losing is good [from the establishment's perspective]," he said in a statement.

Referring to the ongoing financial crisis in Greece, he said it is time the US learns its lessons from this crisis.
"This is the American future if we continue going down the road that President Obama has us on, and that Hillary Clinton wants to continue and even accelerate," he alleged.
"Greece will happen here if we do not change course. Anyone who disagrees with this is a 'math denier'," he said.
Iran and world powers - the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany - have been negotiating over Tehran's contested nuclear programme since 2013 and face a self-imposed final deal deadline today.

The West believes Iran's nuclear programme has military dimension, a claim Tehran rejects.