Rep. Dan Crenshaw blasted former President Barack Obama’s adviser Ben Rhodes for questioning whether Iran was behind the attacks on a pair of oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman this week.
Rhodes, a former creative writing major who also served as Obama’s deputy national security adviser, cast doubts on the Trump administration’s accusation and called for an international investigation.
“This definitely feels like the kind of incident where you’d want an international investigation to establish what happened. Huge risk of escalation,” Rhodes said on Twitter.
He was reacting to a tweet about Secretary of State Mike Pomeo blaming Iran for the incidents. Pompeo tied Iran to the “blatant assault” citing intelligence reports.
Crenshaw responded by questioning Rhodes’ credibility, noting that he once openly boasted about how he created a media “echo chamber” to push the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal to reporters.
“So, do or don’t believe the Intel community? And you’re not really a trusted source to weigh in on Iran,” the Texas Republlican wrote on Twitter. “You sold the public the falsehood of a moderating Iranian regime — using your media ‘echo chamber’ (your words) — and ignoring the true danger Iran presents in the region.”
Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL and Purple Heart recipient, added that he has “been watching for years as Iran moves weapons to proxies around the region, looking for opportunities to destabilize & wreak havoc, and then claim innocence. This is not new. And the Administration is right to strengthen our regional presence as a deterrence.”
