Tom Steyer on War & Peace Democratic Presidential Challenger; CEO

Obama got Iran to give up its nuclear ambitions

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, was implemented in 2016. Its aim was to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. It attempts to do this by requiring Iran to reduce the number of operating centrifuges and its stockpile of uranium, while allowing International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to monitor Iran's declared nuclear facilities. In exchange, Iran won relief from international sanctions and the ability to continue to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes.

Under Trump, the U.S. has withdrawn from the nuclear agreement and re-imposed sanctions on Iran. The president and other Republicans have criticized the deal for allowing Iran to continue to enrich uranium and giving it access to billions of dollars in frozen assets.

Set a strategy: What are we trying to accomplish in Mideast?

STEYER: I would take military action to protect the lives and safety of American citizens. But what we can see in the Middle East and what this conversation shows is that there is no real strategy that we're trying to accomplish in what we're doing in the Middle East. Obviously, Mr. Trump has no strategy. He is going from crisis to crisis, from escalation to escalation. But if you look further over the last 20 years, including in the war in Afghanistan, there was no strategy. There was just a series of tactical decisions that made no sense. So we really have to ask ourselves in the Middle East, what are we trying to accomplish?

V.P. Joe BIDEN: We have lost our standing in the region. We have lost the support of our allies. The next president has to be able to re-establish our alliances.

STEYER: I agree with Vice President Biden. To do it, we should definitely be doing it in coalition with other countries.

It isn't so much about experience; it's about judgement

Sen. Elizabeth WARREN: The job of the commander-in-chief is to keep America safe. I think that's about judgment. It starts with knowing our military. I sit on the Senate Armed Services Committee. I work with military leaders, but I also visit our troops. I make sure they get their pay, the housing and medical benefits they've been promised. We have a problem with a revolving door between the defense industry and the Pentagon. We need to block that revolving door, and we need to cut our defense budget.

Withdraw all U.S. troops from Afghanistan

He criticizes Trump's withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement, arguing that it is increasing tensions in the region and pulling the US deeper into a "proxy war" in Syria. He opposed Trump's 2019 buildup of US troop levels in the Persian Gulf in the wake of increased tensions with Ira

Keep US troops in northern Syria

He condemned Trump's withdrawal of U.S. troops from northern Syria, arguing that the mission there to help the Kurds contain the self-proclaimed Islamic State was successful. He says Trump "sold out" the United States "for the benefit of Vladimir Putin."

Diplomatic measures must always be the first choice

Trump foreign policy strategy is to react, not think