Former Vice President Mike Pence called the Trump administration’s supposed peace deal with Iran “much bigger than a mistake” on Tuesday.

On Sunday — which happened to be President Donald Trump’s 80th birthday — the president announced that a deal with Iran to end the war had finally been reached.

In a Truth Social post announcing the news, Trump also said the Strait of Hormuz would be reopened once the deal was officially signed on Friday, June 19.

In the days after that post, Trump officials and other lawmakers were repeatedly asked about the specific terms of the deal. On Tuesday, a Saudi-backed media network read out a supposed copy of the 14-point Memorandum of Understanding. Included in agreement was the commitment of $300 billion for the “rehabilitation and economic development of the Islamic Republic of Iran.” According to the document, the U.S. also agreed to lift its sanctions against Iran.

Speaking to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Tuesday night, Pence explained why he considered the supposed agreement “ill-advised”:

Calling for the United States and others to arrange for a $300 billion reconstruction fund, when the IRGC and radical Islamists continue to be at the helm in Iran, is deeply ill-advised; and again, I believe it smacks of the kind of appeasement that we saw during the Obama years, the kind of appeasement that Joe Biden tried to accomplish and was ignored by the Iranians, and we rejected categorically during the first Trump administration.

I think the president should just simply stand firm, draw that red line, and if the Iranians won’t come to those fundamental terms that are in the interest of our security, Israel’s security, and the peace and stability of the region, then I think we ought to let the armed forces of the United States open the strait and eliminate the threat on our terms.

Later in the interview, Collins noted that Pence’s characterization of the deal gave the impression that he viewed it as a “mistake.” He confirmed that to be case, adding:

Well, it’s much bigger than a mistake. I mean, when the president took that historic step to strike those nuclear facilities last year, this is the first time in 47 years that an American president had taken the fight directly to the mullahs in Tehran, and America was safer as a result. And the fact that he tried diplomacy for the following year to begin to make progress, and then finally recognized that we just got to take the fight to them, launched Operation Epic Fury. Our military responded brilliantly.

But in this moment, the posture that we’re getting from the Iranians– but my concern is what appears to be leaking out these immediate concessions, particularly sanctions waivers right out of the gate, that would would essentially be a lifeline to the Iranian regime. I think it is ill-advised. We ought to keep the pressure on, keep the blockade on, and if need be, let our armed forces get back to work.

Watch above via CNN

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