On Friday’s broadcast of Real Time with Bill Maher, host Bill Maher criticized President Donald Trump over U.S. policy toward Iran, arguing that the administration failed to follow through on earlier promises to protect protesters facing violent crackdowns.
Maher said Trump had previously warned Iranian leaders not to kill demonstrators in the streets but ultimately did not act when the regime intensified its response.
“He did say a while ago, when they were starting to kill people in the streets, we’re not going to let you get away with this, and then he just let them hang out to dry,” Maher said. “America’s not a very reliable ally. I thought he was going to be different on that.”
Maher contrasted the current situation with last year’s U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. He expressed support for those actions, describing them as clear and strategically defined.
“I was very supportive of bombing the nuclear facility in Iran. I thought that was great,” Maher said. “I understood the goal there, and I understood how it could just be ended with the bombing itself. I don’t get this one.”
According to Maher, preventing a broader massacre in Iran’s streets would require more direct action against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the powerful security force widely seen as responsible for suppressing domestic dissent.
Maher suggested that while targeted strikes on nuclear infrastructure had a defined objective and endpoint, confronting violence against protesters would demand a far more complicated and open-ended strategy. He indicated skepticism that limited military action alone could achieve such a goal.
The comments reflect ongoing debate in the United States over how aggressively Washington should respond to internal unrest in Iran, balancing geopolitical strategy with public support for pro-democracy demonstrators.
