Republican presidential candidate Doug Burgum will lay out his foreign policy initiatives for the Middle East later Wednesday and slam President Biden for his response to Hamas’ war on Israel, The Post has learned.
The North Dakota governor, 67, will rip the White House’s approach to Iran, whose government supports and funds the terror group that launched Saturday’s savage attack on the Jewish state.
In his remarks at the Hudson Institute in Washington, Burgum will call for Iran to receive no more money from the US and for the full enforcement of economic sanctions, while declaring that Tehran’s war on Israel is “war on America.”
“Hamas is a proxy of Iran. We need to put an end to Joe Biden’s Iran appeasement by immediately locking down all the money he’s made available to Iran over these past few months and fully enforce our Iran oil sanctions,” Burgum will say, according to an excerpt provided to The Post.
The Republican candidate will also call for providing Israel with “maximum political and military support” as it wages war on against the Islamic jihadists.
As president, Burgum will say, he would “put an end to Biden’s attempts to undermine Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem” and the Golan Heights, and would work to root out “Iran’s terrorist structure” around the world — putting particular pressure on Qatar and Turkey, which have hosted or currently host key Hamas leaders and infrastructure.
“Countries like Qatar and Turkey that support Hamas should have 24 hours to give up their agents, close the offices and cut off all support,” Burgum will say, according to the excerpts. “We should close our airspace to Qatar Airways and Turkish Airlines if they refuse to comply.”
The governor will also pledge to invite the Israeli prime minister to visit the White House on his “first day in office.”
A Burgum administration would also defund organizations like the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) “that promote antisemitism, fund terrorists, and keep Palestinians trapped in protracted refugee status” and would stop the US from “bypassing the Taylor Force Act to put an end to Palestinian pay-to-slay.”
Burgum will also criticize the Biden administration for allowing the transfer of $6 billion of previously frozen assets to Iran in exchange for the release of five American detainees. The White House stressed at the time the funds would be closely monitored so they could be used only for humanitarian purposes, but Iran’s leader publicly boasted the Islamic Republic would use the money “wherever they need it.”
“Rule number 1: Don’t negotiate with terrorists. Could anyone have ever imagined that we would have a president paying $6 billion on top of a deal releasing five Iranians for five American hostages?” Burgum’s prepared remarks read. “That’s $1.2 billion per hostage. A new price tag put on every American student, tourist and professional traveling or living abroad. But we know there are billions more being funneled for Iran’s use – $10 billion freed up from Iraq, and even more money on the way.”
The candidate will also call out Biden for “allowing Iran to dramatically increase its oil exports to China – helping Beijing fill its reserves with Iranian oil – and letting Iran generate tens of billions of dollars to further its terror agenda.”
Burgum has focused heavily on foreign policy and energy in his longshot presidential campaign, saying the US is in a “Cold War” with China that it must win “economically.”
The North Dakota governor is hoping to qualify for the third Republican primary debate, to be held Nov. 8 in Miami.