President Donald Trump was right to tell the Iranian regime not to attack demonstrators, but Iran's leaders, like with any other authoritarian regime, care more about staying in power than they do anything else and there will likely be no change in the Middle Eastern country's government, Rep. Mac Thornberry said Monday.
"Iran has a history of shooting its own people in order to try and quell dissent," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "What we are seeing is characteristic of what they've done in the past."
Over the weekend, violent protests broke out in Iran after its government admitted to mistakenly downing a Ukrainian passenger jet. The plane was shot down roughly four hours after Iran launched rockets against Iraqi bases where U.S. forces are stationed last week after Trump ordered an airstrike killing Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani.
Thornberry said Monday that it could be a "good thing" if Europe sees the regime attacking protesters, after the Ukraine plane was shot down, as "maybe they'll stand with us, sanctions and the rest, to put pressure on the Iranian government to change.
"The bad thing is if the regime gets so desperate to stay in power that they may launch some sort of military attack in order to distract the people and change the subject," said Thornberry. "Of course, that will be a greater danger for everybody."
Meanwhile, Thornberry said he does not think there will be a regime change in Iran.
"We are seeing a level of dissent that is higher," he said. "I think the blatant lies about shooting down the civilian airliner has caused people to say, 'What else are they lying about?'"
Thornberry also said he does not believe it would be best to leave Iran alone, and he accused Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., of sounding like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., with his call to revisit the president's authorization of force powers.
"There are some people, and if you win the Republican Party, maybe more in the Democratic Party, who genuinely believe that if you just leave everybody alone, everybody will leave us alone," said Thornberry. "History has proven that's not the case."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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