David Barton, the right-wing activist who is now running Ted Cruz’s super PAC, falsely insisted on his “WallBuilders Live” program on Thursday that the nuclear deal with Iran will require the U.S. to ally with Iran and “fight Israel” if Iran acquires a nuclear weapon, warning that this will all bring God’s wrath upon America.
Responding to a question from a listener who wondered if the Bible’s promise that “whoever curses Israel will be cursed” means that the U.S. “won’t fight against Israel,” Barton was not optimistic.
He had been talking to a number of elected officials, he explained, who were surprised when he told them that the Iran deal requires the U.S. to side with Iran if Israel attacks the country.
“They were unaware that in the agreement with Iran … that it contains the provision that says that under this accord, if Iran gets attacked, America will come to the defense of Iran,” Barton claimed. “Now, question: If Iran gets attacked, who’s going to be the first nation attacking Iran for having a nuclear weapon? It will be Israel. So we’re now going into a treaty where we pledge to come to the defense of Iran against Israel, we will fight Israel. If Israel sends in her F-16s and others to blow up nuclear weapons that they will have there, we’re going to fight Israel?”
“These legislators that I’ve talked to, they were shocked to find out that that was in the provision, because that’s not covered in much in the news at all, it’s not out there,” he added.
The legislators may have been shocked to find this out because it is not true. As a State Department spokeswoman explained to CNN after Donald Trump made a similar claim, the deal “does not commit any country to engage in this kind of routine nuclear security cooperation, and it is absurd to suggest it [commits] anyone to 'defend' Iran's nuclear facilities.” In a Senate hearing on the agreement, Secretary of State John Kerry also responded to the claim, clarifying that the U.S. “will coordinate in every possible way with Israel with respect to Israel's concern."
But according to Barton, this nonexistent provision will bring God’s wrath upon America because it will “put us in the position of fighting against Israel physically, and that’s a losing position if you believe there’s a God in Heaven, if you believe in his word, if you believe he keeps his word, that is a losing proposition for America.”
