United States President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s policies “created ISIS [Islamic State of Iraq and Syria],” leading Republican presidential aspirant Donald Trump has alleged.
Mr. Trump, while speaking at a campaign stop in Biloxi, Mississippi, offered no evidence for his claim in which he also said that escalating tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were signs that the Islamic Republic wanted to take over the long-time U.S. ally in the Middle East.
“They’ve created ISIS. Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama,” Mr. Trump said on Saturday.
Iranian protests
The real estate baron couched his remark in a brief discussion of the Iranian protests outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which erupted after Saudi Arabia executed 47 people, including a dissident Shiite cleric.
“In Tehran, they’re burning down the Saudi embassy, you see that?” Mr. Trump was quoted as saying by CNN. “Now, what that is...Iran wants to take over Saudi Arabia. They always have. They want the oil, OK? They’ve always wanted that.”
Mr. Trump has blamed both Democrats and former President George W. Bush when talking about unrest in the Middle East, particularly citing Mr. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq in 2003.
Particularly scathing on Hillary
In the recent weeks, he has been particularly aggressive in going after Ms. Clinton, the Democratic presidential frontrunner, and her record leading the State Department.
Two of Mr. Trump’s 2016 competitors, Carly Fiorina and Rick Santorum, said in November that Ms. Clinton and Mr. Obama were to blame for the rise of the ISIS.
Intensifying verbal war
Mr. Trump and Ms. Clinton have been involved in a war of words in recent weeks.
Ms. Clinton had slammed Mr. Trump’s recent comments about banning Muslim immigrants, saying the Republican frontrunner was “becoming ISIS’s best recruiter.”
“He is becoming ISIS’s best recruiter. They are going to people showing videos of Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists,” she had said.
Mr. Trump dismissed Clinton’s assertion that the ISIS was using his videos as a recruitment tool saying she “is a liar” and “made up” the claim.
