Joe Biden Mixes Up Iraq and Iran in Major Foreign Policy Speech

Former Vice President and Democrat White House candidate Joe Biden on Tuesday confused Iraq for Iran during a foreign policy speech addressing President Donald Trump’s decision to order a deadly airstrike on top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani.

“Iran parliament, Iran parliament, voted to eject all Americans and coalitions forces from the country,” Biden said, mixing up a recent vote by Iraqi lawmakers in favor of a resolution which calls for ending foreign military presence in the country. The measure’s objective is to get the U.S. to withdraw its roughly 5,000 troops positioned throughout the country.

During Biden’s New York City remarks, the former vice president urged President Trump to “stop tweeting” and re-enter the U.S. in the Iran nuclear deal in an effort to “build on it.” He also called the killing of Soleimani, former head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force, a “dangerously incompetent” action and a “strategic setback.”

“I have no illusions about Iran. The regime has long sponsored terrorism and threatened our interests. They’ve ruthlessly killed hundreds of protesters, and they should be held accountable for their actions,” Biden said. “But there is a smart way to counter them — and a self-defeating way. Trump’s approach is demonstrably the latter.”

Biden later accused the president of lacking a coherent strategy in the Middle East and said he acted impulsively instead of conducting a carefully thought-out strategy in dealing with the Islamic regime.

“We need to restore the balance of powers between the branches of government. We need checks and balances that actually serve to check and balance the worst impulses of our leaders—in any branch,” he said. “We need to use our system to bring us together as a nation—not abuse it to rip us apart.”