Top GOP Donor Thiel Questions Iran War, Warns of ICC Threat
(MENAFN) Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel has broken with the US war against Iran, telling a private audience that Washington should never have started it, a political news outlet reported Thursday.
“I’m skeptical of (the war), I think we should not have done it,” Thiel said at a private event on Oct. 12, according to audio the outlet obtained. “There were a lot of mistakes that were made.”
Thiel, a major Republican donor and longtime backer of President Donald Trump, also cast doubt on whether the US has the capacity to hold its ground in the conflict.
“Maybe we don’t have the hard power. Maybe we’re going to lose the soft power war,” he said.
The remarks came in a lecture earlier this month, part of a series held in Nashville. Thiel reportedly also voiced opposition to neoconservative foreign policy and to US military intervention in the Middle East.
His comments reportedly point to a worry that the war’s fallout could extend well beyond the battlefield, damaging Washington’s standing abroad.
Even while questioning the decision to fight, Thiel reaffirmed his support for Trump and appeared eager to protect the president from political and legal blowback.
He cautioned that the International Criminal Court, which has recently been hit with aggressive US sanctions, could threaten the administration as it prosecutes the war. He described the prospect of an arrest warrant as a “sword of Damocles hanging over the Trump administration.”
“I’m skeptical of (the war), I think we should not have done it,” Thiel said at a private event on Oct. 12, according to audio the outlet obtained. “There were a lot of mistakes that were made.”
Thiel, a major Republican donor and longtime backer of President Donald Trump, also cast doubt on whether the US has the capacity to hold its ground in the conflict.
“Maybe we don’t have the hard power. Maybe we’re going to lose the soft power war,” he said.
The remarks came in a lecture earlier this month, part of a series held in Nashville. Thiel reportedly also voiced opposition to neoconservative foreign policy and to US military intervention in the Middle East.
His comments reportedly point to a worry that the war’s fallout could extend well beyond the battlefield, damaging Washington’s standing abroad.
Even while questioning the decision to fight, Thiel reaffirmed his support for Trump and appeared eager to protect the president from political and legal blowback.
He cautioned that the International Criminal Court, which has recently been hit with aggressive US sanctions, could threaten the administration as it prosecutes the war. He described the prospect of an arrest warrant as a “sword of Damocles hanging over the Trump administration.”
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