Arya News - O`Reilly compared negotiations with Iran`s leaders regarding a potential deal to the lead-up to the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
( NewsNation ) — As the talks between Iran and the United States heat up over a potential nuclear deal, Bill O’Reilly foresees the U.S. striking the Islamic state in the days after the Winter Olympics.
“This is like Maduro,” O’Reilly told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Wednesday. “So, Mr. Trump offered Maduro a deal. You can go to Cuba. You can go to Paraguay. You can take some money. You can take your family. Maduro gave him the middle finger. And now, Maduro will never get out of prison in his entire life.”
“The Ayatollah Khomeini, the second ayatollah, is doing the same thing. We’re going to do this. We’re going to do that. ‘Hey, listen, pal — and I’m talking to you now, OK? You are toast after the Olympics, OK? You are cinder. You are gone. No one is going to help you. No one."”
U.S. and Iranian officials convened in Geneva earlier this week in an attempt to hammer out a deal. Iranian state media said the negotiations were expected to focus solely on Iran’s nuclear capabilities, not contentious policies such as its deadly crackdown on protesters, over which President Donald Trump has repeatedly condemned and threatened the regime.
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As talks began, Iran’s military fired live missiles toward the Strait of Hormuz in a maritime exercise, state media announced. The strait is a crucial international trade route, and 20% of the world’s oil passes through it, The Associated Press reported.
Iran and Russia are also conducting naval drills in the Gulf of Oman and the northern Indian Ocean on Thursday, according to Reuters.
The Trump administration said earlier this week it is moving additional military assets into the region, with the U.S.S. Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group deploying to join the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. Reports say the U.S. military could be in place to strike Iran as early as Saturday.
“Iran as a terrorist state,” O’Reilly added. “So everybody is aligned against Iran. The question is, if the United States and others bomb that country, will it be enough to take the power people out? Will it be enough for the Persian people to rise up? It’s a 50-50 proposition.”
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Television personality Stephen A. Smith backed O’Reilly’s remarks about Trump’s dealings with Iran, even acknowledging he feels there will be no hesitation on Trump’s behalf.
“Trump has already bombed him once,” Smith said. “I don’t think he would hesitate to do so again on behalf of Israel if Netanyahu and Israel wanted him to do such a thing again. And Iran wasn’t cooperative. So I don’t put anything past Trump when it comes to that in terms of his support, his unwavering support to Israel and the Jewish community.”
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Smith doubled down on the possibility based on how Iran has acted as “proxies for terrorists in the past.”
“We know how they operate,” he added. “They have absolutely no problem whatsoever dying for their cause. This is the impression that they’ve given. Trump has been a droid, at least from appearances’ sake, in terms of ingratiating himself with folks in the Middle East. So he has some support, at least in his eyes, rather, that he could garner.”
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