President Donald Trump's assessment of the Iranian regime has shifted dramatically, as he labeled the country's leadership as 'scum' on Wednesday, just weeks after praising them as 'very rational' and expressing willingness to meet Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei.
Trump's Harsh Words
'They're scum,' Trump said of Iran's current leadership, which he played a large part in bringing to power through the assassination of previous leaders. 'I don't want to deal with them, but they're scum. They're scum, they're sick people, they're led by sick people, and they're vicious, violent people,' he emphasized.
This marks a stark reversal from his comments last month at the G7 meeting in France, where he described the same group as 'very rational people' who were 'nice to deal with' and 'strong people, smart people.'
Previous Praise for Khamenei
Just last month, Trump said he would be 'honored' to meet Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, adding that 'he has a very good reputation, actually.' Mojtaba was elevated to the role after Trump, at the urging of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, assassinated Iran's previous leaders en masse and called for regime change — until he backpedaled and claimed it wasn't about regime change at all.
'You talk about regime change. I never cared about regime change. It [was] never a part,' Trump said at the G7 meeting, directly contradicting himself. 'But I guess you have regime change because you know better than anybody, the first group, they're all dead. The second group, they're dead. A part of the third group is gone.'
Self-Praise and Contradiction
He then proceeded to applaud himself for having killed enough of Iran's leaders to have arrived at a group he deemed 'very rational' and 'nice to deal with.' 'And we're dealing with people that I think are very rational people. They were nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people,' Trump said of the group he now insists is scum. 'I think actually they're smarter than the first and second group, but they're not radicalized and they're, you know, looking to help their country.'
That's markedly different than his take Wednesday, when, in addition to calling them 'scum,' he said talking to them is 'just a waste of time.' 'As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. We make a deal, and if I make a deal with him, we have a deal,' Trump said. 'He goes out, he talks. We make a deal. Everyone's agreed, no nuclear weapons. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press, they say we never even talked about it. Is something wrong with them? They're cuckoo.'
