During an interview this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis stated that the recent Iranian-backed terrorist attacks in Israel were personal to him because the Iranians were responsible for the fatalities of hundreds of U.S. soldiers during his service in the military during the war on terror.
DeSantis made the comments during a Tuesday morning interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in response to Saturday’s unprecedented terror attack in Israel, which left more than 1,000 people deceased and 2,500 injured.
“In terms of Iran, look, this is personal for me in the sense of, I served in Iraq back in 2007, 2008. We were in places like Fallujah and Ramadi. Mostly Sunni Arab al Qaeda fighters at the time, but most of the casualties U.S. troops were suffering were at the hands of Iranian-backed Shia militias. They killed hundreds of our troops in Iraq, probably over 1,000.” DeSantis said.
“Of course, they were responsible, through Hezbollah, for killing our Marines back in 1983 in the Beirut barracks bombing. So Iran has a lot of American blood on its hands. Look, I think that Israel should be focused on uprooting Hamas. To make this a larger role, I think, does have some risks, but I would say the United States should turn every screw so that Iran is not getting money flowing into its coffers, particularly with their oil.” he continued.
The Republican presidential candidate stated that the Biden administration made an error by unfreezing $6 billion in illicitly acquired Iranian assets.
45-year-old DeSantis stated that the Trump administration terminated Qasem Soleimani because he aided in overseas attacks against American soldiers.
He stated that the U.S. government must reverse its easing of sanctions against Iran and increase domestic energy production in order to make the country more secure during periods of instability in the Middle East.
[READ MORE: DeSantis Announces New Set of Sanctions on Iranian Businesses in Florida]
