Hamawy urges diplomacy, declines to call Iran a U.S. adversary

Incoming New Jersey representative Adam Hamawy said in a CNN interview that the United States had pushed Iran into a fight and urged diplomacy, but did not directly answer repeated questions about whether Iran is a U.S. adversary.

Asked by anchor Pamela Brown about Iran and Israel, Hamawy said the United States should seek to make friends rather than adversaries. He compared Iranian leaders’ “Death to America” rhetoric with what he described as decades of similar U.S. statements toward Iran. When Brown said Iran had killed Americans, Hamawy replied that the United States had killed many Iranians as well.

Hamawy also said Israel had pushed the United States into the war and opposed U.S. military aid to Israel. He described the conflict as harmful to American safety and the economy, and argued that diplomacy and economic leverage could bring Iran to negotiations. He cited the Obama administration’s approach as a model.

During the interview, Hamawy said Iran’s government is authoritarian and a dictatorship, and that he disagrees with it. He also said preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons was a worthy objective, but argued it could be pursued through means other than war....