(AP) — Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich is strongly criticizing Secretary of State John Kerry’s diplomatic push for an interim nuclear deal with Iran, calling it “a surrender.”

Gingrich said Friday that President Barack Obama’s administration is punishing U.S. allies while trusting the nation’s enemies.

Gingrich was in Overland Park to campaign for Kansas Republican Pat Roberts’ re-election to the U.S. Senate.

The former House speaker called the diplomatic push “the Munich of the Middle East,” a reference to the 1938 decision by major European powers before World War II to allow Nazi Germany to annex Czechoslovakia.

Gingrich noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted any agreement was a “bad deal.”