Not surprising...

GOP candidates side with Saudi Arabia over Iran in dispute

By Eliza Collins

Republican candidates are siding with Saudi Arabia over Iran in the escalating dispute between the two countries and bashing the White House's handling of the spat, which is imperiling Syria peace talks.

Chris Christie said he has “no sympathy for the Iranians.” Marco Rubio used the feud to reiterate his dislike for the Iran nuclear agreement. And Ben Carson said the U.S. is just creating more fear in the area.

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was set on fire by protesters over the weekend. The demonstrations were sparked when Saudi Arabia executed 47 people, including a prominent Shiite cleric. Other countries, like Bahrain and Sudan, have followed suit, and the United Arab Emirates has downgraded ties.

Christie, in an interview on Bloomberg Politics' “With All Due Respect” on Monday, said multiple times that he has no sympathy for Iran.

Even though Saudi Arabia’s human rights record "leaves something to be desired,” the New Jersey governor said, the U.S. still needs to be working “with our friends to make sure that we're trying to have a positive influence on their human rights records inside their own country while not letting that dominate the geopolitical relationship we need to have with the Saudi government.”

During a campaign event Monday, Rubio said that Saudi Arabia isn’t perfect, but “they’re not an enemy of the United States.”

“Now there are things they do I’m not in favor of and I have strong problems with, but, that being said, they have been a military ally of the United States in that region,” the Florida senator said. “Iran has been our enemy. … And they’re having this dispute, and this president’s like, ‘Hey guys, can you all get along? We’re not really taking sides here.’”

Carson, speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, said while he isn’t in favor of executions, “our embrace of Iran is probably not helping the situation, because I think it's creating more fear, you know, throughout the whole area.”

Saudi Arabia is "our ally. Do they do everything the way that we would like it done? Absolutely not. Do we align philosophically on everything? Absolutely not,” the retired neurosurgeon said. “But that's no reason for us to, you know, toss them under the bus."

“I have a strong feeling that if, you know, our traditional allies in the region had full faith and confidence in us that we wouldn't, like, turn our backs on them like we have on Israel; I think they would be much more enthusiastic about supporting anything that we called for,” Carson continued.

During a press briefing on Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the U.S. was unhappy with both the Saudi moves and the Iranian reaction, and also made a point of noting that the administration has concerns about Saudi Arabia's human rights record. The Saudis are considered a crucial U.S. ally.

“The United States frankly has concerns with the way that both countries have carried out their activities over the last several days,” Earnest said. “There’s plenty of blame to go around, and what we would like to see are both sides or all sides begin to take the kinds of steps that will de-escalate the situation.”