YULEE, Fla. – Governor Ron DeSantis drew on his 2007–2008 Iraq service to argue that Iran and Iranian-backed militias were responsible for most U.S. casualties he witnessed there.
During a press conference on Thursday, DeSantis offered condolences for a Florida service member killed in a recent rocket attack.
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“I’ve pointed out, for many, many years, that when I was serving in Iraq back in that critical time, 2007, 2008, the U.S. was incurring a lot of casualties at the time, and at the time I was over there, 90% of those were because of the Iranians,” DeSantis said.
He said Iran financed and directed Shiite militia groups and named Iranian leaders as their controllers, and he supported the U.S. strike that killed Qasem Soleimani.
“They were funding and orchestrating the Shia militia groups, Islamist groups. They were under the tutelage of Qasem Soleimani, but ultimately, directed by the Ayatollah.” DeSantis said.
“I was supportive of the Soleimani strike back in the day. And I was glad to see that justice was brought there.” DeSantis said.
Drawing on frontline detail, DeSantis blamed Iran for supplying explosively formed penetrators that drove casualty rates and described a broader pattern of Iranian support for militant groups across the region.
He tied that activity to historical attacks on U.S. personnel, referenced the 1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, and suggested Iran has repeatedly sought to harm American leaders.
DeSantis called Iran’s government “a fanatical, apocalyptic, militant Islamist regime” while expressing hope that the Iranian people might one day be freed from clerical rule and realize the country’s cultural and economic potential.