Former National Security Adviser John Bolton said on Friday that the United States acted at the right time to strike Iran, arguing Washington should not wait until a nuclear threat becomes imminent before moving to eliminate it. Bolton said the administration was right to act now rather than risk allowing Tehran’s threat to grow more dangerous.
“I think it was the right time to go in. I don’t think the nuclear threat was imminent, but I don’t think the United States is required to risk the imminent destruction of our people before we take preventative action to remove the threat”, he said.
Bolton said the larger point is that the U.S. should not accept indefinitely living under the threat of a nuclear Iran. “We don’t have to live under the threat. That’s just simply unacceptable.”
The timing made strategic sense, Bolton argued, because the regime in Tehran is now more feeble and disfavored than it has been in decades. “I do think that the moment was right. I think the regime in Tehran is as unpopular, as weak, as it’s been at any point since it took power in 1979“, he said.