US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley rails against Trump over his foreign policy comments
Washington, DC: US Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has criticised former President Donald Trump for showing friendliness to foreign dictators, The Hill reported.
The former US Ambassador to UN, Haley, began her statements by giving the former president credit for getting out of the Iran deal and said she "was honoured to have played a part in those efforts."
Haley, however, criticized Trump's handling of foreign relations and said, "We can't afford to go down that road, amid the wars in Europe and the Middle East and high tensions with China."
While referring to Trump's controversial comments in recent weeks, she said: "As president, I will not compliment Hezbollah nor will I criticise Israel's Prime Minister in the middle of a tragedy and war."
Trump is facing backlash for criticising Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for not being prepared ahead of October 7, when Hamas entered the country in a surprise attack. Trump also called the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah "very smart."
Haley said: "We have no time for personal vendettas. I will also not compliment Chinese communist President Xi nor will I call North Korea's Kim Jong Un my friend."
She added that these leaders, along with the Supreme Leader of Iran Ali Khamenei, are "not good or smart people."
"The last thing they want is an American president who knows it and calls them out for it," Haley said. "They want us to stay divided, distracted and morally confused."
Haley is currently trailing Trump in the polls by a large margin, battling it out for second place with Governor Ron DeSantis.
Haley recently took a jibe at US President Joe Biden, said the world is currently on fire, and America needs a new, strong leadership to deal with it.
She said that this situation would not have come if Joe Biden had not been so weak in Afghanistan, so slow in Ukraine, and so absent from the border.
In a post on X, Haley, wrote, "The shame of it all is that we wouldn't be in this terrible position if Joe Biden hadn't been so weak in Afghanistan, so slow in Ukraine, so pandering to Iran, and so absent from the border."
"The world is on fire, and America needs strong new leadership to deal with it," she said.