Former Sen. Rick Santorum , who is weighing a 2016 presidential bid, accused President Obama on Saturday of ignoring evil.

In his speech to a conservative audience at the National Security Action Summit in South Carolina, Santorum blasted the Obama administration's push to secure a deal over Iran's nuclear program.

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"I could spend an entire speech talking about how this president has ignored evil, has misinterpreted evil, has maybe even intentionally turned his back to evil and allowed it to prosper around the world," Santorum said.

"Unfortunately, this president is doing everything that is necessary to create conditions for evil to expand and for war to break out," Santorum said, pointing to Iran.

The administration has faced mounting pressure ahead of its goal to secure a preliminary deal by the end of the month.

Santorum said a senior adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told him during a recent trip to the country that whoever is elected to the White House in 2016 should be ready to be "a wartime president."

The 2012 Republican runner-up was quick this week to support an open letter signed by 47 sitting GOP senators sent to Iran's leaders promising to not uphold an unfavorable deal after Obama leaves office.

Obama on Friday called the senators’ action “close to unprecedented" and said he was "embarrassed for them."

"I would have been the 48th signature to that letter had I been in the United States Senate," Santorum said Saturday, harkening back to his push for legislation during his time in the Senate for Iranian pro-democracy efforts.

"Whatever deal you sign, if it leads, as I suspect this deal will, to you having a pathway to a nuclear weapon, this president will not enforce it," he added, referring to himself should he launch a bid.

Santorum similarly criticized Obama's foreign policy during his speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference last month, though offered less striking rhetoric discussing Obama's choice of terminology regarding Islamic terrorists.

"Offering marked refusal to embrace the reality of evil is nothing new," Santorum said at CPAC.

The event Saturday included speeches from other potential 2016 Republican contenders including Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) and former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton.