Nikki Haley hints at 2024 presidential run, promises no Iran Deal at Christian Zionist rally

Former US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley hinted that she would become a candidate for the 2024 US presidential elections, during a speech she made late Monday night at Christians United for Israel’s (CUFI) 17th annual Washington Summit.

“If this president signs any sort of [Iran nuclear] deal, I’ll make you a promise: The next president will shred it on her first day in office,” Haley said near the end of her speech at the event, entitled A Night to Honor Israel. “Just saying, sometimes it takes a woman,” she told the cheering crowd.

No Iran deal

“If it ever looks like Iran is getting to a nuclear weapon, we must act, and we must act swiftly and decisively,” said Haley. “Our national security depends on keeping the bomb away from Iran, and if America won’t, then Israel must, and we should help them. At the minimum, we should give Israel everything it needs to defend itself and destroy Iran’s nuclear program.”

Haley criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration for its efforts to negotiate with Iran and come to a compromise with the regime on its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

“Due to America’s weakness, Iran is in the strongest position it’s ever been. Everyone knows what Iran wants. It wants nuclear weapons, it wants ballistic missiles to carry those nuclear weapons, and it wants to use those missiles and nukes to destroy both Israel and America,” said Haley. “The president is desperate to get back into the Iran nuclear deal. He’s made that clear, and he’s said he’ll do almost anything to get the ayatollahs to sign on the dotted line.”

"If this president signs any sort of [Iran nuclear] deal, I'll make you a promise: The next president will shred it on her first day in office."

Nikki Haley

American weakness led to the Ukraine war

Haley asserted that Iran, North Korea, China and Russia had been emboldened by perceptions of US weakness over its failures during its withdrawal from Afghanistan.

“When America is weak, evil reigns,” said Haley. “If America hadn’t failed so miserably in Afghanistan, there never would have been a war in Ukraine.”

Early in her speech, Haley shifted from a discussion of Israel to “another nation on our hearts,” Ukraine. She castigated Russia for conduct in the Russia-Ukraine War, such as deporting Ukrainian children into Russia and the deaths of whole families.

“The war in Ukraine is a reminder that evil is real, and it needs to be confronted,” said Haley.

HALEY PRAISED Israel for being a refuge for Ukrainian Jews fleeing the war, also noting that one lesson from the conflict in Ukraine was that “when people have a land to call home, their love and pride of country make it easier for themselves to defend themselves from their enemies.”

“We used to have that love of country, that used to be us,” the former ambassador to the UN added, referring to the US.

Biden's trip to the Middle East

Haley also criticized Biden’s conduct during his recent trip to Israel and Saudi Arabia. She said that Biden was too reluctant in committing to the idea that the US would use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons if diplomacy failed. She said it sounded like a bluff and was embarrassing.

The former governor of South Carolina decried the Biden administration’s decision to give financial aid to the Palestinian Authority, which she said was paying the family of terrorists, thereby using US tax dollars to attack its ally. Haley noted that most of the monetary aid would go to “straight-up antisemitic terrorist front group” UNRWA, which she described as one of the worst branches of the UN. Haley reminded the conference that she had convinced former president Donald Trump to defund UNRWA, and called to disassociate from it.

Haley said that Biden’s approach to Saudi Arabia had mixed messages, and was disrupting the diplomatic advances in the region.

“The Ayatollahs’ number one fear is America, Saudi Arabia and Israel working together,” she said.

"When America is weak, evil reigns."

Nikki Haley

What is Christians United for Israel?

CUFI’s 17th annual Washington Summit had several high-profile American and Israeli speakers besides Haley. American pastor and founder of CUFI John Hagee and Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog also spoke at the event. Bahrain’s Ambassador to the US Shaikh Abdulla Bin Rashid Al Khalifa and Defense Minister Benny Gantz had recorded messages played at the conference.

CUFI says that it has over 10 million members in its Christian Zionist organization, whose mission is educating and promoting the defense of Israel and the Jewish people.

In 2014, Pew Research Center found in a survey that 72% of white Christian evangelical protestants sympathized most with Israel in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and 64% said that the US should support Israel if it were to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.

A 2021 Pew survey found that 24% of US adults described themselves as evangelical Christians. The same year, a Gallup poll found that 36% of Americans identified as evangelical Christians.

If Haley would join the race for the Republican candidate for US president in 2024, she would compete with other popular theoretical candidates, such as Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.