Fox News host Sean Hannity kicked off his show Thursday night by promising President Trump would “bomb the hell of out Iran” for downing an American drone and lashing out at a fellow Fox News personality who advocated for restraint.
Shortly after Fox News’ Tucker Carlson—who has been privately advising the president against war with Iran—praised Trump for initially resisting calls for military action, Hannity took a completely different approach, insisting that Iran has essentially left Trump no choice.
“A strong message needs to be sent that a huge price will be paid if you take on the United State of America,” Hannity declared. “Simple peace through strength, and it works.”
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Following his short monologue, the pro-Trump primetime star welcomed on Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera, who immediately noted that Iran claims they “have absolute, undeniable proof” that the drone they shot down was over territorial waters. Hannity, meanwhile, wanted to hear none of it.
“They shot an American drone out of the air, they are not getting away with it,” he huffed.
As Rivera attempted to make the point that Iran may not be in the wrong if the drone was indeed over their airspace, Hannity said Trump was “very clear” that the aircraft was over international waters before claiming Iran wants to wipe “the United States off the map” and is “fomenting terror.”
Rivera, for his part, cautioned against rushing into “another military conflict,” prompting Hannity to clarify that he just wanted the U.S. military to shoot missiles and drop bombs on Iran.
“If you shoot an American missile or a drone out of the air and you attack tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, you’re going to get the living crap bombed out of you,” Hannity declared.
The Fox host, who is reportedly referred to as the White House shadow chief of staff, went on to argue with Rivera some more, at one point describing Iranians as “radical terrorists” who “killed our boys in Iraq” when Rivera suggested a renegotiation of the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump pulled out of.
“What has happened to you?!” Hannity yelled at one point to Rivera.
“I want the next generation of military weaponry so we can’t let these idiots in Washington, they have to be able to blow them out of the water and they must pay to take out a drone in international waters,” he continued. “I’m not believing a word that these lying mullahs say!”
