Withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal would be "the height of stupidity," former UN Ambassador Susan Rice told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files," a podcast from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.

Rice called the threat of withdrawal a "win, win, win for Iran," who she asserts would then be free to pursue a nuclear weapon and isolate the United States from its allies. It would also create "two nuclear threats that are proximate simultaneously rather than just one," warns Rice.

Rice sees this as part of broader trend, and says that she is "struck every day by how quickly President Donald Trump's approach has damaged our global standing."

"We've withdrawn from the Paris climate agreement. We've put the Iran agreement in jeopardy. We've withdrawn from the Trans-Pacific Partnership -- a trade agreement that we orchestrated that would have strengthened our position in the Asia Pacific. And as we withdraw, others are moving to fill the void," says Rice. "It's dangerous."

"The risk is that the world becomes accustomed to a universe in which we are not a leader, where they do not feel obliged to take into consideration...the request of the American president. Where they do not count on us to stand for human rights and democracy and the rule of law and the values that are so dear to us. Where they become accustomed to autocratic leadership going unchallenged. And there is a real risk in my opinion that the world does not make room for us to come back and take our seat at the global leadership table at the head of the table," Rice said of the potential consequences.

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