Rep. Speier Blames Trump’s ‘Saber Rattling’ for Iran Shooting Down Passenger Jet

TRANSCRIPT:

BLITZER: “Congresswoman, thanks so much for joining us. And I want to start with this plane crash. Have you been briefed on it? Because it certainly sounds like it was a mistake by the Iranians. Do you think they assumed this was some sort of U.S. military plane?”

SPEIER: “I have been briefed on it, Wolf, in the Intelligence Committee, so I’m not really at liberty to say. But if what is being projected is true, this is yet another example of collateral damage from the actions that have been taken in a provocative way by the President of the United States.”

BLITZER: “Well, is this type of miscalculation, let’s say, on the part of the Iranians more likely now to result in even heightened tensions?”

SPEIER: “I would say that the continued saber — excuse me, the continued saber rattling by the President doesn’t help us. I also feel strongly that by taking out General Soleimani, that that did not somehow rid us of any of the planning that the Iranians would be doing or that the Shia militia that is throughout the region is also engaged in doing. And we also have the leader of the Shia militia who was assassinated as well. That may be the subject of some efforts to seek revenge. This needs to be deescalated. The President needs to stop saber rattling, he needs to find a way to use our allies to find a means by not just tamping this down, but getting Iran to the table, where we can renegotiate a joint agreement on the use of nuclear weapons and move forward in a manner that is not as bellicose as the President has been as he addresses Iran. Iran has been a bad actor. Soleimani was a bad actor. But there are many people in that region and around the world that are bad actors. We have to find a way to live together and attempt to move towards peace.”