Hillary Clinton promised that she would “act decisively” as president to ensure Iran did not violate the recent nuclear deal. The leading presidential candidate and former secretary of state told an audience at the Brookings Institution today that Iran will “want to see how far they can bend the rules,” but that she would “hold the line against Iranian noncompliance.”

The Associated Press reported:

In her remarks, Clinton attempted to reassure skeptics by threatening serious penalties for violations, including possible military action. She offered strong support for Israel, whose leaders strongly oppose the agreement, promising that if elected she would invite the country’s prime minister to the White House during her first month in office.

“The Iranians and the world need to understand that we will act decisively if we need to,” she said. “As president, I will take whatever actions are necessary to protect the United States and its allies.” …

Clinton called for expanding the U.S. military presence in the Persian Gulf and increasing support to Israel and other allies in the region. She also proposed building a coalition to crack down on weapons shipments to Hamas and to counter terrorist organizations financed by Iran, such as Hezbollah.

A report in The New York Times described Clinton’s plan for countering Iran’s destabilizing actions and support of terror across the Middle East.

Mrs. Clinton’s promise to “confront them across the board” appeared part of an effort to answer one of the chief criticisms of the deal: that the resumed flow of oil revenue into Iran will help it fund proxies like Hezbollah and embolden the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to conduct what Mrs. Clinton described as “cyberattacks or other nontraditional attacks.” So, she said, the deal must be a starting point of a new American containment strategy.

A crucial part of that strategy, as she described it, would be a stepped-up effort to contain Iran’s military activity in Syria and around the Middle East, and new restrictions on conventional arms to Iran. (She did not mention one of Mr. Kerry’s last concessions, made in July during talks in Vienna, which included the expiration, over eight years, of United Nations embargoes on missile and other conventional arms sales.) …

Unlike Mr. Obama’s speech at American University in July, part of his effort to sell the deal, Mrs. Clinton’s talk on Wednesday was worked from the assumption that Iran will attempt to violate the deal. “We need to be prepared for three scenarios,” she said. “First, Iran tries to cheat.” The second risk, she said, was that the Iranians would seek to “wait us out” until the world is distracted, and then resume their efforts to enrich uranium, produce plutonium or develop a weapon. And the third was that Iran would seek to flex its muscles abroad.

[Photo: Brookings Institution / YouTube ]