'Obama was right': Bill Maher turns on Trump over Iran policy after supporting military action

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The conservative commentator and HBO host Bill Maher, who once supported President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran, twisted the knife in Trump as he bluntly declared that former President Barack Obama was right about the Islamic Republic.

In the initial days of the war, Bill Maher had expressed confidence in Trump’s strategy in Tehran, saying he was “cautiously optimistic” about the president's military strikes in Iran, clarifying that he supports the mission “unless he puts boots on the ground.”

Bill Maher argues diplomacy outperformed military action

Maher made the remarks during the Saturday, June 20, episode of HBO’s 'Real Time with Bill Maher', which featured Euphoria creator, writer and director Sam Levinson as the interview guest.

The panel guests were Rep Ro Khanna, Democrat and author of 'Dignity in a Digital Age: Making Tech Work for All of Us', and Jonathan Martin, Politico’s senior political columnist and host of the podcast 'On The Road with Jonathan Martin'.

Maher ripped into Trump over Iran war strategy during a good chunk of his monologue, then went deeper during his panel discussion.

Maher argued that former President Barack Obama’s approach to Iran had been vindicated by the outcome of the conflict, saying there was ultimately no better alternative than diplomacy.

“You know who gets the crow about Iran? Obama. He does,” Maher said. “But it turned out Obama was right. There really is no other better way to do this.”

He added that while there were concerns about whether Iran was complying with the Obama-era agreement, the alternatives had proven even less effective.

Jonathan Martin warns Iran gains leverage through Hormuz

Politico columnist Jonathan Martin argued that Iran now holds additional leverage through its ability to threaten the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

“Now we know that they have the leverage, which is closing down the straits,” Martin said. “Any future American president threatens Iran, goes back into Iran, well, guess what? We’ll close the Strait down, we’ll jam you on gas prices back home politically, and we’ll wait you out.”

Khanna also defended Obama’s strategy, arguing that diplomacy had achieved stronger results than military action.

“Sometimes tough diplomacy is better than chest-thumping brute force,” Khanna said.

He argued that Obama’s agreement removed 97% of Iran’s enriched uranium and established inspections backed by a United Nations Security Council resolution, while Trump’s deal amounted to “simply dilution.”

Maher agreed with the criticism of the current agreement.

“It is, oh absolutely, no it’s terrible,” he said when asked whether the new deal was weaker than Obama’s nuclear accord.