'Recoiled in fear': Ex-Trump official shoots down boasts about 'big man' Iran tactics

The bombs had barely even begun to fall in Iran's escalatory missile strike on Israeli cities, when former President Donald Trump proclaimed that he could have prevented the whole thing by projecting a tough guy attitude in the White House.

"[Iran] should not do it. It would be a big mistake if they do," Trump told NBC News Capitol Hill correspondent Garret Haake. "They have no respect for the administration. This would have never happened if I was president.”

But a number of experts and commentators on X were quick to combat this claim, noting Iran launched attacks on U.S. military installments when Trump was president for the retaliation for the assassination of a top general.

ALSO READ: The secret weapon Republicans use to win elections

Among the former president's nay-sayers Tuesday was Trump administration security official turned critic Alexander Vindman.

"Iran struck first and early, during Trump’s presidency attacking US troops. Trump consistently recoiled in fear inviting further attacks," Vindman wrote on X.

"Trump also set the table for Russia’s full-scale war on Ukraine by his abuse of power, resulting in his first impeachment & his friendship with dictators & weakening of alliances."

Tommy Vietor a onetime staffer for former President Barack Obama, provided more detail.

"In 2020, Iran fired a dozen ballistic missiles directly at US forces in retaliation for the Soleimani assassination," wrote podcaster Tommy Vietor. "110 US service members got traumatic brain injuries."

Some Trump supporters, like former House GOP staffer Jerry Dunleavy, argued Iran had been "unchained" by Obama's anti-nuclear-proliferation thaw of foreign relations — a take one national security expert blasted as absurd.

"Ah yes, the Iranians were so crippled by big man Trump and his sanctions (which had loopholes), so terrified of certain death if they crossed him, that they attacked US forces," shot back national security attorney Bradley Moss. "M’kay."

Meanwhile, former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner had a blunt response which he contextualized in the upcoming presidential election.

"If ever America & the world needed strong, steady, reliable leadership - a leader who will NOT pledge loyalty or write love letter to murderous dictators, who will NOT destroy NATO, who will NOT tell Putin to do 'whatever the hell he wants to do' - it is now," he wrote. "Vote Harris/Walz."