Nikki Haley claims retaliatory airstrikes in Middle East would be 'actually preventing war'

During an interview on CNBC's Squawk Box, hosts Andrew Ross Sorkin and Rebecca Quick grilled Nikki Haley on issues ranging from the southern border to the gap between her and frontrunner Donald Trump. 

When asked how she would respond to a recent Iranian-backed attack on American military members at a base on the Jordan/Syria border, the Republican presidential candidate suggested the best course of action would be to bomb them right back. 

"What would you be doing right now in terms of what's happening in the Middle East," Ross Sorkin asked. "Would we be going to war?" 

Haley responded by stating that the goal is "always to prevent war," before slamming the Biden administration for failing to protect the three American soldiers who were killed and numerous others who were wounded by Iranian-backed militants over the weekend. 

"When you say Biden didn't do something, what was that something that he should have been doing?" Ross Sorkin countered. 

Haley replied by suggesting that the federal government should have taken action to deter the militants after the first strike instead of waiting for things to escalate to the point where Americans were killed.  

"The very first strike that hit, you punch and you punch back hard," she said. "What they should be doing is going after every ounce of production of those missiles. Wherever those missiles are, you take that out. You take out the training sites, you go after the leaders making these decisions." 

When asked whether such actions would "risk escalating a war" with Iran, Haley doubled down on her desire to see the source of the attacks taken out. 

"It's not starting war," she claimed. "It's actually preventing war." 

According to the Associated Press, during an event in South Carolina on Sunday following the news of the three deaths, Biden vowed that the US "shall respond," and later reiterated those sentiments in a written statement on the matter.