Tulsi Gabbard
© Reuters/Brian SnyderCandidate Tulsi Gabbard
Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard came out swinging against a possible conflict with Iran, slamming President Donald Trump for allowing war hawks to run his administration.

The president is "on the brink of launching a very stupid and costly war with Iran" and must be stopped, she said in a campaign video tweeted out Thursday, adding that Trump is going back on promises to stay out of such conflicts.

"The American people were lied into war with Iraq, which killed hundreds of thousands and inflamed the Middle East with violence and extremism. Now the same usual suspects are vying for a repeat in the country next door.

President Trump promised ... to get the United States out of stupid wars. The US must not go to war with Iran.

That war "would prove far more costly and devastating than anything we experienced in Iraq, resulting in "far more American troops being killed and injured" and "great suffering for the Iranian people."
She warned it could kick off a broader conflict in the region between the US and Russia, which could "easily lead to nuclear war."

The president has surrounded himself with hawks and regime changers who are driving US policy toward oblivion, Gabbard said, calling out National Security Advisor John Bolton by name.

Washington has taken up a new effort to antagonize Iran, accusing the country of planning an attack on US interests or allies in the Middle East. That alleged "threat" provided a pretext to field an arsenal of military hardware into Iran's backyard, drastically raising the chances for a 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident.

Gabbard has made American foreign policy the centerpiece of her 2020 presidential campaign, calling for an end to regime change operations overseas and for greater oversight of the intelligence agencies, among other things.