The latest draft of a possible Iran nuclear deal reads as if the United States is giving 10 gallons of gasoline and a book of matches to a pyromaniac, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee tells Newsmax TV.

“It’s a terrible deal,” Huckabee said Thursday on “The Steve Malzberg Show”

“One of the reasons [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu came to the U.S., spoke to Congress and thereby speaking to the American people, was to tell us we can do better than this.

“And frankly, to do better, means that we make it clear that nuclear options are not viable for Iran. Not now, not tomorrow, not ever.”

The Associated Press reported Thursday that a draft of the nuclear-limits deal being crafted by the U.S. would require the Middle East nation to cut its number of centrifuges about 40 percent.

The deal would limit Iran to 6,000 centrifuges, instead of the 10,000 it now has, for at least 10 years. The U.S. originally wanted Iran to keep its centrifuge supply to no more than 1,500, the AP said.

“The thought of giving them 6,000 centrifuges — this is the equivalent of saying we got a pyromaniac in our neighborhood,” said Huckabee, a former GOP presidential candidate.

“We’re not going to let him have a 50-gallon drum of fuel and a cigarette lighter, but we are going to let him have a 10-gallon gas can and a book of matches.

“That way we’ll just hold him back and he can’t burn as much down. Would anyone in his or her right mind allow that? Of course, we wouldn’t.”

Huckabee said it was the “true essence of insanity” to believe a country which has “violated every agreement they’ve ever made” isn’t going to use all of its nuclear capacity for “nefarious” purposes.

Asked about the negative response from the White House to Netanyahu’s sweeping victory on Tuesday, Huckabee told Steve Malzberg:

“It’s very clear that this administration in general, and this president in particular, has an extraordinary disdain for Israel in general and Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. It’s just inexplicable,” he said.

“When I hear news people say things like ‘what’s the price that Netanyahu will pay?’ I want to say what’s the price Israel and the world pays if Israel isn’t willing to stand up against the Iranian nuclear threat? They may be paying with the lives of their children and grandchildren.”

Huckabee — author of “God, Guns, Grits, and Gravy,” published by St. Martin’s Press — said he finds it hard to understand why the president seemingly dislikes Israel in general.

“The only thing I can fathom is that he has such an extraordinary sense of identity with sympathy for many of the other Middle Eastern nations,” he said.

“He resents the strength of Israel. He resents very much the strength of Netanyahu, who is absolutely forthright in his understanding of what the threats are with Islamic jihadism, a term that President Obama cannot bring himself to utter nor can his administration.”

http://www.newsmax.com/Newsmax-Tv/Mike-Huckabee-centrifuges-Iran-Netanyahu/2015/03/19/id/631249/