In an interview with HuffPost Live Thursday, Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal was quick to defend Iran's ambitions on the world stage, saying the Middle Eastern country is "obviously" a rational actor and a democracy.
While many have been quick to criticize a nuclear deal with Iran and questioned Iran's status as a rational actor, the retired four-star general warned against writing off the country just because Americans disagree with its politics.
"We don't like a lot of their behavior in the world, and particularly their non-nuclear behavior, some of it has been pretty objectionable and needs to be dealt with," he told host Alyona Minkovski. "But just because you don't agree with somebody, doesn't make them an irrational actor."
McChrystal also looked to Russia and North Korea, which have been at odds with U.S. foreign policy in recent years, to further his point.
"I don't think Putin is an irrational actor. I'm not sure about the leadership in North Korea; we just don't have a good enough window," he said. "But if someone is pursuing their aims and they're doing it even if they're absolutely contrary to what you want, they can be very rational."
Watch the full HuffPost Live coversation with Stanley McChrystal here.
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