Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley reacts to President Trump’s decision to take out Iranian General Soleimani in an interview with FOX News host Sean Hannity.
SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS: I watch this, and I’m thinking, wow, — do they want to bribe the mullahs again? The Clintons bribed Kim Jong-il. That didn’t work out. Bribing the mullahs didn’t work out.
And, by the way, there was never any place, any time inspections anyway associated with that 10-year deal that expired, for $150 billion.
To me, the Iranians have been at war with the world. They want Iranian hegemony.
Am I wrong?
NIKKI HALEY, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: You know, I mean, you’ve got to look at the fact that the general provisions of the Iran deal were going to end in October. So, we’re going towards a time where we have to bring them to the negotiating table anyway.
But make no mistake, Sean. 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.
You could see the ayatollah crying today, because that was his number one strategist. That was the number one guy that has literally told all of the proxies in all of these countries who to kill, when to kill, how to kill. And that guy is now gone.
HANNITY: And killing Americans.
HALEY: So, Iran is having to regroup and figure out, now what?
So, make no mistake. They’re shaking in their boots. They’re trying to figure this out.
HANNITY: Well —
HALEY: And I think the president showed great decisiveness, great resolve.
And I think that this was a long time coming. If you look back two years ago, I gave a speech at the U.N. on Soleimani, and talked about the threats. The president has had restraint all of this time since we gave that speech.
And I will tell you, we said then, he was not — by the entire Security Council, he was banned from leaving Iran. What was he doing in Iraq anyway?
Trying to move in.
HANNITY: Great question, yes.
What — do you agree with — listen, I have always liked General Petraeus. He’s a great general, patriot, hero in this country. He said, it’s impossible to overstate the importance of this particular action. It’s more significant than the killing of bin Laden, even the death of al-Baghdadi.
And he said Soleimani was the architect, operational commander of the Iranian effort to solidify control, the so-called Shia crescent stretching from Iran to Iraq, through Syria and Southern Lebanon.
I think that’s the reason why the Jordanians, Egyptians and Saudis now are working with the Israelis, which I don’t think anybody saw coming.
HALEY: Well, and I will tell you this. 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 our Democrat leadership, and our Democrat presidential candidates.
HANNITY: That is sad.
HALEY: 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.
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