Gordon Adams (“Poliquin wrong on Iran deal,” Oct. 10) criticizes U.S. Rep. Bruce Poliquin’s position on the Iran nuclear agreement.

Here are some issues that refute Mr. Adams’ claims that the deal is a good one:

There is ample evidence for the existence of an Iranian-Russian strategic alliance with the objective of regional dominance. This has a major impact on the deal. Mr. Adams touts the uranium enrichment reductions achieved, but overlooks two potential offsets.

First, Iran can use the U.S. funds to purchase uranium from the Russians, who recently canceled a uranium reduction treaty.

Secondly, production can be relocated to Syria, entirely avoiding U.N. inspections. Russian-Iranian forces are interoperable in Syria.

Previous Iran-North Korea nuclear agreements failed. This one has further eroded enforcement by limiting sites inspected to only ones named. Unnamed and military sites are off limits.

The deal is only for 10 years, but it’s highly unlikely to last. A Russian U.N. veto will prevent the use of U.N. sanctions now and in the future.

Iran continues to test ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads, in violation of other international agreements. It continues to support terrorism and call for the destruction of the U.S. and Israel.

Now, Iranian missiles have been used in Yemen to attack our U.S. Navy. It is counterintuitive to expect such a reckless and nefarious regime to abide by any agreement. Once the U.S. turned over the funds, the Iranians had absolutely no motive or incentive to abide by the deal.

I can’t think of any other way to describe someone who is so sure this is a good deal than to say that he is naïve and living in a fairy tale. We need more politicians like Rep. Poliquin, who understands that appeasing our enemies promotes more aggressive behavior, as history has shown again and again.

Don Derrah of Raymond is a retired colonel in the U.S. Army.