Without a trace of irony, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest blasted Republican Arizona Senator John McCain Friday as “naïve and reckless” for taking the Iranian Ayatollah at his word. (VIDEO: CNN Grills State Department Spox: Why Won’t Iran Deal Be Like Failed North Korea Deal? )
The impetus for Earnest’s tweet was McCain’s comments on “The Hugh Hewitt” show that Secretary of State John Kerry was “delusional” about the Iran deal. “Today, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said that the deal is no deal unless sanctions come off on day one, the same day Iran’s defense minister, Brigadier General Hossein Dehqhan said, “visits to our military centers is among our red lines,” McCain noted.
Naïve and reckless for @SenJohnMcCain to believe every word of the Supreme Leader's political speech. He shouldn't.
— Josh Earnest (@PressSec) April 10, 2015
Earnest has faced some push-back from the White House press corps over whether the Iranians could be trusted. “[You] feel like you can negotiate in good faith with a Supreme Leader who is calling for ‘Death to America’?” asked CNN correspondent Jim Acosta in late March.