Former Bush administration U.N. Ambassador John Bolton criticized MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell for saying Iran was an ally prior to President Bush labeling them as part of the "axis of evil" Thursday on The Kelly File.
Bolton said Mitchell's contention is "thoroughly silly."
Outside of some cooperation in Afghanistan following the fall of the Taliban, Bolton pointed out, Iran remained a state sponsor of terror and the second heaviest sanctioned country in the world outside of North Korea:
JOHN BOLTON: It is thoroughly silly. There was cooperation with Iran on the subject of Afghanistan after we overthrew the Taliban, because we wanted to bring stability there. We didn't want to see the Hazara, a very large persian and ethnic and persian speaking group in Afghanistan being used by the Iranians. They were grateful to the United States because we had removed the Taliban, one of their sworn enemies. But let's be clear, Iran was still on the list of state sponsors of terrorism. Iran was still the second most heavily sanctioned country in the world by the United States after only North Korea. We knew they were pursuing nuclear weapons. They were on our list of things to deal with when 9/11 happened. So the notion that somehow we were in any sense an ally of Iran is just flatly wrong. And the notion that George Bush calling them part of the axis of evil, somehow destroyed the relationship is silly.
Full interview: