Trump Slams Iran’s Human Rights Record in Shot at Critics of the War: ‘They Throw Gays Off Buildings’
President Donald Trump defended military action against Iran by insisting that he had to “wipe out evil” and invoked the regime’s long record of executing LGBTQ+ people, after YouTuber Jake Paul argued liberal critics at home who opposed the strikes were ignoring the regime’s human rights record.
In an interview recorded on Wednesday ahead of a rally in Kentucky and released Friday, the president discussed the ongoing operation against the Iranian regime, saying he supported the president, and pushed back against criticism from activists who questioned the escalation.
Trump framed the campaign as a long-overdue confrontation with Tehran.
“We did this excursion. We had to do it. Wipe out evil. Sometimes you have evil, and for 47 years they’ve been killing people, you know, in the most violent way,” he said, pointing to roadside bombs he claimed were tied to Iran and referencing the 2020 killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
“The roadside bombs [that are] all over the place, 95% of them are from Iran, [Iranian Commander Qasem] Soleimani, that was the one – we took him out,” Trump added. “And all of this whole thing that we’re doing now is people have waited for 47 years for it to happen so we have to do it right.”
Paul told Trump he was surprised some activists criticised the strikes: “I was a bit shocked too, like everyone else in the world was like, ‘This is the greatest thing’, And I think what you’re doing is phenomenal.”
“I was shocked that so many activists in America didn’t like it. But meanwhile, they’re like, ‘Oh, well, we support women. We want women to have all these rights. Meanwhile, you’re liberating the women of Iran.’ And then they have an issue with it. I thought that was very confusing,” he added.
“We support gays, but they throw gays off the buildings. Okay, we support this,” Trump replied. “I mean, the things they do and they’re fighting, but I think I have tremendous support on this. This is something that’s been incredible.”
The president also said the operation had crippled Iran’s military leadership.
“We wiped out their navy. We wiped out their air force. We wiped out everything there is to wipe out,” Trump said, adding that Iranian leaders had twice been killed while meeting to select new leadership.
Rounding again on the regime, he said, “We have to wipe out the evil. It’s an evil curse. They’re evil people. And, hey, we wiped out their navy. We wiped out their air force. We wiped out everything there is to wipe out. We wiped out their leadership twice. The second time they were meeting to pick which one of them would be the leader they got wiped out.”
“Now they’re looking for a third time. I don’t know. People say the son [of assassinated Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was reportedly selected as leader], but nobody knows where the son is,” he added.
Watch above via YouTube.
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