Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley blasted Democrats for criticizing President Donald Trump’s decision to order the strike on Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
In Monday’s interview on Fox News’s “Hannity,” Haley claimed Democratic leadership and presidential candidates are the only people who are “mourning” Soleimani’s death.
“You don’t see anyone standing up for Iran. You’re not hearing any of the Gulf members, you’re not hearing China, you’re not hearing Russia. The only ones that are mourning the loss of Soleimani are Democrat leadership and our Democrat presidential candidates.”
Watch her comments below:
She added that the rest of the world leaders knew Soleimani had “evil veins” and understood his role in coordinating militias around the world to conduct attacks against a variety of targets.
“No one else in the world, because they knew that this man had evil veins. They knew what he was capable of. And they saw the destruction and the lives lost based from his hands.”
Additionally, she said the strike on Soleimani left Iranians “completely flat-footed” because it followed months of restraint in the face of Iranian aggression.
“What the president did left the Iranian regime completely flat-footed. They did not see this coming. They thought they could continue to do their multiple strikes. But when it got to the lives of Americans, the president is never going to allow that to happen. It happened with the contractor, when they started to threaten our diplomats at the embassy, our military personnel, the president put a stop to it.”
Haley described Soleimani as Iran’s “number one strategist” who told Iran’s proxies around the world “who to kill, when to kill, and how to kill.”
She also noted that the United Nations Security Council banned Soleimani from leaving Iran and questioned why he was in Iraq.
Her comments come as Trump faces continued criticism from Democrats who have called for open hearings into Trump’s decision to order the strike, and a resolution to limit Trump’s authority in regards to military actions related to Iran.