‘He’s Wrong!’ John Kirby Spars with Dana Perino Over Iranian President’s Anti-American Rhetoric
White House Spokesman John Kirby didn’t quite laugh at the line of questioning he faced from Fox News anchors Bill Hemmer and Dana Perino; his reaction was more of a pedantic chortle.
Kirby appeared on the set of America’s Newsroom Wednesday morning. He faced tough but fair questions about the recent prisoner swap with Iran, particularly recent comments made by the Iranian President while attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, New York, USA.
Perino took issue with Iranians using a podium at “UNGA” to attack the United States, to which Kirby explained, “That’s all in the structure, the architecture of the United Nations.”
Bill Hemmer pressed Kirby further, noting, “Yet he stood there and accused us of stoking the war in Ukraine. Yeah. And then the Israeli ambassador got up and protested, and he was the one who was apprehended. And this is all within days of them getting the $6 billion. I think a lot of Americans watching this are like, what? What are we thinking?”
Kirby stifled a laugh at what seemed a rather facile line of questioning, “Well, look, [laughs] it’s not as if, first of all, I mean, nothing that [the Iranian President] said yesterday could have been it should have been a surprise to anybody.
The conversation turned to the prisoner exchange deal, which saw the Iranian regime receive $6 billion of their own frozen assets, which as been consistently derided on conservative media outlets like Fox News. Kirby explained how the funds will solely be used for humanitarian efforts in Iran, making clear that the White House has no beef with the Iranian people, only with their extremist regime.
“That’s not what the Iranian people said,” Hemmer offered, curiously taking the word of a foreign adversary over a White House spokesman, who shot back, “he’s wrong!”
Perino: What about the fact that we had this week and you’re here for the U.N. General Assembly? We are glad you’re here, but New Yorkers aren’t glad everybody is here at the same time. But glad to have you. The Iranians, well, they were able to come on a sanctioned plane, sanctioned people. They come here, they get the swap with the hostages. They get the $6 billion in humanitarian aid. And yet then from the podium at UNGA just attacking Americans, like why do we allow that to happen?
Kirby: That’s all in the structure, the architecture of the United Nations. I mean, for a week the Foreign Minister Lavrov was here of Russia. We have significant issues with, of course, him and his government, but we preserve the sanctity of the United Nations. And it’s because we believe in the United Nations. And you heard the president talk about this as a forum to solve these problems. You can’t say you believe in that. You can’t say you believe in it as a venue and then block other diplomats from coming. Even diplomats with from countries that you have significant issues with.
Hemmer: Yet he stood there and he accused us of stoking the war in Ukraine. Yeah. And then the Israeli ambassador got up and protested and he was the one who was apprehended. And this is all within days of them getting the $6 billion. I think a lot of Americans watching this are like, what? What are we thinking?
Kirby:: Well, look, [laughs] it’s not as if, first of all, I mean, nothing that Rice he said yesterday could have been it should have been a surprise to anybody. That is what the UN is for, for these leaders to be able to get up and talk about the that the interest of their nations. But it’s also not like he swayed any real minds there. It’s not as though Iran somehow put points on the board yesterday with respect to their beef with the United States or with any other country. I mean, most of the rest of the world knows what Iran is up to. And Iran is one of the most isolated, most heavily sanctioned countries in the world. So I just find it not credible that Mr. Rice was able to, again, move any minds or change that here.
Perino:: But I hope.
Kirby: If.
Perino: At home he gets to say, look, I came to America, I gave this big speech, I trashed the president in front of him. I got I got $6 billion. We got our people back. And it’s like, is there some point we could be.
Kirby: You got first you got to back. And there were sanctions issued on Monday with respect to wrongful detention. There were sanctions, additional sanctions on Friday.
Perino: Are any of these sanctions working anywhere?
Kirby: Yes, they are. The real is down like 48%. I mean, their economy is tough and the sanctions…
Perino: The same people there are that innocent people there still continue to suffer under them. And we which is watching them create a nuclear weapon.
Kirby: Which is why that humanitarian money is so important. We don’t have a beef with the Iranian people, the mullahs. The regime will not get our hands on any of those funds. It will go to vendors that we select to get that stuff the agricultural products, the food, the medicine, right to the Iranian people. We don’t have a beef with them. And you’re right, they are suffering.
Hemmer: That’s not what the Iranian president said. And we’ll….
Kirby: He’s wrong!
