Senator Bernie Sanders criticized US President Donald Trump for his handling of the escalating tensions between the US and Iran, comparing Trump's strategy to "setting fire to a basket full of paper and then putting it out."
Trump decided not to launch a retaliatory strike after Iran shot down an American drone this week, saying he believed the casualty count of such a strike would be disproportionate to the attack from Iran. The US pulled out of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers last year, which led to rising tensions between the two countries.
"It's like somebody setting fire to a basket full of paper and then putting it out. He helped create the crisis, and then he stopped the attacks," Sanders said in an interview with 'Face the Nation'.
Sanders accused Donald Trump of thinking "that a war with Iran is something that might be good for this country." When Brennan pointed out that the strike considered by Trump was "limited," Sanders responded sarcastically.
"Oh, just a limited strike. Oh, well, I'm sorry. I just didn't know that it's okay to simply attack another country with bombs," Sanders said, incredulously. "Just a limited strike? That's an act of warfare."
The US President Donald Trump told reporters Saturday that the US would be imposing new sanctions on Iran, with some being implemented "slowly" and some "more rapidly." He also said military action against Iran is "always on the table until we get this solved."
In a statement issued early on Thursday, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said the US-made Global Hawk surveillance drone was brought down by its Air Force near the Kouh-e Mobarak region, which sits in the central district of Jask County, after the aircraft violated Iranian airspace.
Iran says it will take the case to the United Nations in protest of the US' blatant act of aggression. US claims the drone had been flying over international waters, despite Iran's evidence that the debris of the downed drone was retrieved from Iranian waters.
ZZ/PR