Ex-Obama adviser Rhodes: Iran debacle 'predictable,' 'everything's gotten worse' under Trump

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Pentagon releases video of Iran shooting down US drone

Former U.S. Ambassador to Bahrain Adam Ereli and former National Security Adviser to Vice President Dick Cheney John Hannah weigh in on how the U.S. will respond to Iran shooting down a military drone.

Former Obama adviser Ben Rhodes blamed President Trump for the continually escalating tensions with Iran and said it was "eminently predictable" that certain events would occur after Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal.

Rhodes, one of the chief architects of Obama's Iran nuclear deal, took aim at Trump's handling of the country in a recent interview.

"Everything's gotten worse... Trump has made the nuclear threat worse and he's made the risk of war worse and this was eminently predictable," Rhodes said on Wednesday's "Pod Save the World."

"This is what all of us said was going to happen when he pulled out of the nuclear deal," Rhodes added.

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Rhodes, who served as Deputy National Security Adviser, advocated for the nuclear deal which halted U.S. sanctions in exchange for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program. During the podcast, he told former colleague and White House aide Tommy Vietor that the Trump administration brought the U.S. to a diplomatic situation they both feared would occur.

"We're on this escalation cycle that we've been worried about," he said, claiming that the U.S. engaged in multiple provocations against the Iranian regime.

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Their comments came as the U.S. blamed Iran for an attack on oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, as well as shooting down a military drone in the Strait of Hormuz. Rhodes seemed unsure of whether Iran was to blame but argued that the Trump administration faced an uphill battle in pinning the attack on the regime.

"It matters that this administration has no credibility," he said before accusing the administration of lying about "everything" -- including Iran's compliance with the nuclear deal before the U.S.'s withdrawal.

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He went on to argue that although Trump said he would outperform Obama on issues surrounding North Korea and Iran, he was doing worse on both.

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Former Vice President Joe Bide also criticized Trump, saying that the drone attack was a "self-inflicted disaster." “Trump promised that abandoning the deal and imposing sanctions would stop Iran’s aggression in the region. But they’ve only gotten more aggressive,” he said.

Trump's official "War Room" Twitter account responded to Biden on Thursday, tweeting: "Iran shoots down an American drone in international airspace, and Joe Biden’s response is to attack President Trump? What is his solution? Send Iran more pallets of cash? Let Iran take more U.S. sailors hostage? More coddling?"