Democratic presidential hopefuls Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders (L) and former Vice President Joe Biden chat during a break in the fourth Democratic primary debate of the 2020 presidential campaign season co-hosted by The New York Times and CNN at Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio on October 15, 2019.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Top 2020 Democratic White House contenders slammed President Donald Trump’s decision to take out Iran’s top commander General Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghadad on Thursday night, saying the attack will likely lead to escalation.
Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike in Baghdad, the Pentagon confirmed on Thursday night. He led an elite branch of Iran’s armed forces and has been blamed for the deaths of many, including Americans, across the Middle East.
Vice President Joe Biden, who leads the Democratic field in national polling averages, said Soleimani “deserved to be brought to justice for his crimes against American troops and thousands of innocents throughout the region,” but added that the decision to kill him “is a hugely escalatory move in an already dangerous region.”
Soleimani’s death increased already-rising tensions between Iran and the United States, and triggered concerns of retaliation from Iranian forces.
Trump “just tossed a stick of dynamite into a tinderbox, and he owes the American people an explanation of the strategy and plan to keep safe our troops and embassy personnel, our people and our interests, both here at home and abroad, and our partners throughout the region and beyond,” Biden added.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren echoed Biden’s concerns. She called Soleimani “a murderer,” but added that “this reckless move escalates the situation with Iran and increases the likelihood of more deaths and new Middle East conflict.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders said a potential conflict in the Middle East “could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar slammed the timing of the event and said the United States should focus on protecting “U.S. military and diplomatic personnel in Iraq and throughout the region.”
Without referencing Iran by name, entrepreneur Andrew Yang on Friday morning said that the United States has “been in a constant state of armed conflict for 19 years at a disastrous cost to both our people and our resources. This must end.”
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who has been critical of American military involvement in the Middle East, said on Fox News on Friday: “I don’t believe the American people want to go to war with Iran.”
The White House and the Trump campaign didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment on the Democratic candidates’ statements.
In a statement from Thursday, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi called for Congress to “be immediately briefed on this serious situation and on the next steps under consideration by the administration, including the significant escalation of the deployment of additional troops to the region.”
The Pentagon confirmed Soleimani’s death on Thursday night following reports of his death on Iranian state television and Iraqi media. Hours after the Pentagon’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Twitter that the assassination of Soleimani was “extremely dangerous & a foolish escalation.”
“The US bears responsibility for all consequences of its rogue adventurism,” he said.
CNBC’s Amanda Macias and Kevin Breuninger contributed to this report.
