Michele Bachmann Falsely Claims Iran Threatened U.S. With Nuclear Attack

October 31, 2011Ali Gharib 2 Comments

Reposted by arrangement with Think Progress

Appearing on ABC’s This Week yesterday, GOP presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) claimed that Iran had threatened the U.S. with a nuclear attack, a proposition so discordant with the facts that ABC host Christiane Amanpour told the candidate that the claim wasn’t possible because Iranian officialdom has never acknowledged a nuclear weapons program. Here’s the exchange:

BACHMANN: Iran has also stated they would be willing to use a nuclear weapon against the United States of America. I think if there’s anything that we have learned over the course of history, it is that when a madman speaks, we should listen. And I think in the case of Iran, that is certainly true.

AMANPOUR: Congresswoman, of course the United States is concerned about the nuclear program. Iran denies that it has one, so it hasn’t threatened to use them.

Watch the video:

Ali Gharib

Ali Gharib is a New York-based journalist on U.S. foreign policy with a focus on the Middle East and Central Asia. His work has appeared at Inter Press Service, where he was the Deputy Washington Bureau Chief; the Buffalo Beast; Huffington Post; Mondoweiss; Right Web; and Alternet. He holds a Master's degree in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. A proud Iranian-American and fluent Farsi speaker, Ali was born in California and raised in D.C.

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2 Comments

October 31, 2011
amir

Actually US threatened several times to use them against other countries. poor Bachmann just get confused
November 3, 2011
scottindallas

As Amir noted the US has threatened Iran repeatedly, and with nuke tipped bunker busters. Those threats, by us, void the NPT for Iran. They’ve yet to assert that, but it is the first principle of the treaty, that nuclear armed nations won’t threaten non-nuke nations with nukes.