Press TV - A top American senator is comparing the Trump administration’s escalation of tensions with Iran to the period that led to the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said Wednesday that there were “significant parallels” between the Bush administration’s lies then compared to Trump’s today.

He was referring to former President Gorge W. Bush’s later debunked claims that Iraq was in possession of weapons of mass destruction vis-à-vis President Donald Trump’s baseless allegations that Tehran is pursuing nuclear weapons.

“We got into the Iraq War because an administration lied to us about [how] there was a nuclear weapons program and there wasn’t. We didn’t accept the IAEA saying there wasn’t a nuclear program,” Kaine said. “Here, we had a deal that limited Iran’s nuclear program. ... The IAEA said it was working, [President Trump] said no it wasn’t. This is an eerie parallel.”

With war hawks surrounding Trump such as national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Michael Pompeo, the US recently deployed an aircraft carrier strike group to the region.

“I’ve seen this movie before; I don’t like the ending,” said Illinois Democratic Senator Dick Durbin. “I was one of the 23 senators that voted against the invasion of Iraq, when we were so fearful of imaginary weapons… I think that John Bolton has made it clear long before he became part of this administration, he wants a confrontation with Iran.”

Meanwhile, there were those who disagreed there were any similarities, suggesting the US president does not actually seek war like Bush.



“I think that White House was gunning for war with Iraq and was going to find a way to get there. I still don’t think this is where Trump wants to end up, but he’s put us on a path to get there by mistake,” said Connecticut Democratic Senator Chris Murphy.

During the 2016 campaigning , Trump vowed to stay away from conflicts in the world and bring back the country’s soldiers home.

“By the time the war started, I was against it. And shortly thereafter, I was really against it,” Trump said of the Iraq War ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Iran has criticized the US military buildup in the region, including the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group, a squadron of B-52 bombers, and a battery of patriot missiles, asserting that it does not seek war with the US but would not hesitate to defend its interests in the Middle East.