Blame for terror attack

Haley: U.S. not to blame for terror attack in Iran

By QUINT FORGEY

U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley said Sunday that President Hassan Rouhani of Iran should “look in the mirror” rather than blame the United States for an attack this weekend on an annual military parade that killed 25 people and wounded dozens more.

“I think what Rouhani needs to do is he needs to look at his own home base,” Haley said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

“The Iranian people are protesting. Every ounce of money that goes into Iran goes into his military. He’s oppressed his people for a long time,” Haley told host Jake Tapper.

“I think the Iranian people have had enough, and that's where all of this is coming from,” she added, reiterating that the U.S. “condemns any terrorist attack anywhere, period.”

Rouhani on Sunday claimed that a U.S.-backed state in the Persian Gulf was responsible for the assault, perpetrated by militants disguised as soldiers who opened fire on the parade crowd in Ahvaz, a city in southwest Iran, according to The Associated Press. Arab separatists have claimed responsibility for the violence.

“It is America who supports these little mercenary countries in the region,” Rouhani said. “It is Americans who are provoking them. It is Americans who provide them with their required necessities to perpetrate such crimes.”

Haley dismissed that accusation Sunday, saying: “He can blame us all he wants. The thing he’s got to do is look in the mirror.”

The ambassador also brushed off comments that Rudy Giuliani, an attorney for President Donald Trump, made Saturday at a meeting in Manhattan of the National Council of Resistance of Iran. The former New York City mayor warned Rouhani that “you must truly be afraid of being overthrown,” according to the Guardian.

“Look, the United States is not looking to do regime change in Iran. We’re not looking to do regime change anywhere,” Haley said.

“At the end of the day, Iran is not a good actor, and they've got a lot of soul-searching to do,” she added. “And the international community needs to hold them to account.”

Haley has been preparing for the opening of the 73rd annual session of the U.N. General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, at which Trump is set to preside over a meeting of the U.N. Security Council expected to focus, in part, on Iran.

The president’s rhetoric against Rouhani’s government has escalated in recent months, with Trump memorably tweeting an all-caps warning in July that the Middle Eastern leader “WILL SUFFER CONSEQUENCES THE LIKES OF WHICH FEW THROUGHOUT HISTORY HAVE EVER SUFFERED BEFORE” if he threatens the U.S.

Earlier this year, Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated during the Obama presidency. “This was a horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made,” Trump said in backing out of the deal in May. The other signatories — including England, France and the world‘s other leading powers — have remained in the deal.

Haley defended that move by the White House on Sunday, saying that Iran’s economy has “plummeted” as a result of America’s exit from the multinational pact.

“They’re getting desperate,” Haley said. “And I think we're seeing the actions of that.”