Dem Rep. Smith: Iran Doesn't Seem to Want Deal, State Dept. Needs to 'Start Negotiating'

On Wednesday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that Iran doesn’t appear willing to negotiate an end to the Iran War and “I don’t know where the State Department is in all of this, but they need to get out there and start negotiating and get some end to this conflict before it continues to spiral out of control.” Smith stated, “I don’t see where it ends, because there’s no evidence that Iran is giving up, and you still have missiles being launched back and forth in the region, you still have a very disruptive region. Certainly, you have what’s going on with Yemen, the Houthis, Saudi Arabia, and all of that. So, I don’t see an end to this. The logical end to it is for a negotiated settlement. But neither Iran nor the Trump administration seem willing to do that. And it’s certainly not true that Iran has completely lost its capability to threaten that shipping area. They still have missiles, they still have drones, they still launch them from time to time. So, it’s still going to be very, very volatile.” Later, he added, “The whole world is in danger as long as these wars continue and the various combatants look for ever more creative ways to win or to get an upper hand and an advantage. And where are the guardrails? Okay. It would have been unimaginable, 30 years ago, during the first Gulf [War], to think that Iraq would somehow attack a base in Great Britain, okay. Look, I don’t know where the State Department is in all of this, but they need to get out there and start negotiating and get some end to this conflict before it continues to spiral out of control.” Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett