Bill Maher calls out Gov. Josh Shapiro on Iran war criticism: ‘You would still do nothing?’ Comedian Bill Maher pressed Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro on Friday over his opposition to U.S. involvement in Iran, challenging the Democrat on what he would do if he were commander-in-chief and had been given knowledge that Iran would soon have nuclear weapons. “Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs.’” Maher said during the latest installment of “Real Time.” “If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?” Shapiro quickly rejected the notion. “No. What I would do, and what the President of the United States failed to do, was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here,” he said. “Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed… seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don’t think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand?” “I think if you don’t have clarity about why you’re going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out,” he added, his remarks met with applause. Maher also pushed back on the Pennsylvania Democrat’s suggestion that the rationale for the war remains unclear. “We’ve lost 13 American soldiers in a war that the American people and, by the way, most of the global community, has no idea why the hell we went there in the first place,” Shapiro said. “I think people have an idea,” Maher countered. “What was the reason we went in?” Shapiro asked. “Everything you said – the nukes, regime change, and just to reshuffle the deck in the Middle East. Nothing ever really was going to get better until that regime went away,” Maher replied, prompting chuckles from the audience. Maher then added, “But we’ll see what happens.” Shapiro noted that he was morally opposed to the Iranian regime’s actions that placed Americans in harm’s way, stating that he never viewed the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as a “good person” and that he is “not shedding a tear” for regime members who were killed. “[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’” These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people…” he said. “What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander-in-chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm’s way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you’re doing what you’re doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished… “The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership,” he added. Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment on Shapiro’s statements but did not immediately hear back.
See this event through different lenses
Compare how Western, Iranian, Israeli, Global South, and Pro-Peace perspectives frame this event.
Compare PerspectivesLoading notes...
A tanker identified as the Kaifan was struck by an unknown projectile northeast of Oman’s Limah in the Strait of Hormuz, according to a July 21 report from UK Maritime Trade Operations. No ships were observed transiting the strait that day. Attribution of the strike and links to prior incidents have not been confirmed by the vessel’s owner.
Goldman Sachs has projected Brent crude averaging $80 per barrel in the fourth quarter and $75 in the following year, conditional on reduced Middle East tensions, while noting upside risks from potential shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz or Red Sea.
Brent prices rose above $91 per barrel amid recent U.S.-Iran exchanges and Houthi threats to Saudi shipments before edging lower on Tuesday. A senior Iranian official told Reuters that mediators had proposed a 10-day ceasefire to preserve an interim agreement.
Opening summary: Iran claims attacks on strait of Hormuz ships amid fresh US strikes Welcome to our live coverage of the latest developments in the Middle East crisis. Iran attacked a tanker in the strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, forcing its crew to abandon the ship, as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis announced they were imposing an immediate maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea after the two sides traded fire last week for the first time in years.
A Houthi official said the Bab al-Mandeb strait – at the southern end of the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s trade usually passes – would be closed to the Saudis in response to the kingdom’s “unjust blockade on Yemenis for over 10 years”.
Saudi Arabia said it would take “all necessary measures to protect its vessels in accordance with international law”. A 10 consecutive night of US airstrikes has not compelled Tehran to loosen its grip on the strait of Hormuz, a vital route for global energy supplies.
But even as Iran’s president said the country had returned “full-scale war”, the Iranian interior minister travelled to Pakistan – a key mediator in the conflict – for talks. In key developments: The latest US strikes came hours after Donald Trump said Iran would pay “many times over” for killing US soldiers after multiple service members were killed in action over the weekend.
A tanker came under attack early Tuesday in the Hormuz strait off Oman, forcing the crew to abandon the vessel, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations centre said. Iran’s Revolutionary Guards claimed the attack as well as two other attacks on ships in the waterway on Monday.
The US military’s Central Command said its latest airstrikes were to “degrade” Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping in the strait and included hitting military command centres and missile and drone launch sites. Iranian media reported strikes in parts of the country including Bandar Abbas, Tabriz and Bushehr, home to the country’s only operational civilian nuclear power.
Iran’s launched attacks in response against Bahrain, Kuwait and Jordan, which all host US forces. Oil prices softened after hitting their highest levels in more than a month in the previous session. Brent crude futures eased 0.4% to $88.87 a barrel by 0052 GMT on Tuesday while US West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was steady at $82.
47 a barrel. Democrats have seized on the deaths of three US troops killed in Iranian strikes to urge Trump to urgently reverse his resumption of the war with Iran amid widespread anxiety over climbing casualties. The Lebanese army began taking charge of security in three southern villages, the US said, as a deal to secure an Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon and the disarmament of Hezbollah faced its first test on the ground.
US forces struck the tanker Settebello in the Gulf of Oman on June 10, killing three Indian crew members when munitions hit the engine room and adjacent areas. Maritime tracking data indicate the vessel had transported Iranian oil under US sanctions for several years and conducted offshore transfers prior to the strike.
The US military described the action as a precision operation, while reports note the ship was stationary at the time.