Fox News host Sean Hannity and frequent guest Pat Buchanan — normally political allies — got into a heated exchange on
Wednesday's "Hannity" over the Iran nuclear talks taking place in Switzerland.
Most conservatives, including Hannity, think the Obama administration is overly anxious to enter into a deal with Iran and is willing too allow too many concessions, including allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapons program after 10 years.
Buchanan brushed aside those worries, saying that the United States could monitor Iran's actions and take them out quickly, and besides, he said, the U.S. has a long history of talking to its enemies before war breaks out.
The United States needs to be on friendly terms with Iran, Buchanan said, because Iran is fighting America's enemies: the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaida.
"Who are they killing, Sean? They are killing our enemies. They are killing our enemies," Buchanan emphasized, as both men began raising their voices.
Hannity countered that Iran is fighting against American and Saudi interests in Yemen.
"The Saudis are making a terrible mistake," Buchanan said. "If they go in there on the ground, it will be their Vietnam."
"If they don't go in there, then they're going to be surrounded by the Iranians, which, by the way, wants to clearly build a huge power for themselves in the region," Hannity shot back.
"Sean, the reason Iran's going to have a power in the Gulf is because your president, George W. Bush, invaded Iraq and turned it into a lot of Iran," Buchanan answered.
"You believe we can make a deal with the Iranians? You believe peace with the Iranians in our time?" Hannity asked.
"I'm not scared of Iran, for God sakes. They don't have an atomic bomb," Buchanan answered.
Buchanan criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for overstating the Iranian threat over the years, saying, "Bibi is sitting on 200 atom bombs, and he's fretting over Iran, which hasn't even produced weapons-grade uranium?"
Hannity responded: "And this is going to create an arms race the likes of which the world has never seen, with one distinction, Pat. Now you'll have nuclear weapons in the hands of radical Islamic mullahs. You don't see that as a danger?"
"The United States could finish off Iran in an afternoon," Buchanan scoffed. "What are you frightened of, Sean?"
Closing the segment, Hannity told Buchanan he was "dreaming," and Buchanan told Hannity he was "hysterical."
Hannity said that as Churchill took the words of Hitler seriously, he, Hannity, was doing the same with the Iranians who chant "Death to America" at their rallies.
"How did Britain end up when it followed Churchill's advice?" Buchanan asked.
"They actually won the war," Hannity said.
"Won the war?" Buchanan replied. "They wound up on American food stamps."
Watch the video here.
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