Trump jokes that he took out too many of Iran’s leaders during recent war

US President Donald Trump jokes that he took out too many of Iran’s leaders during the US-Israeli war with the Islamic Republic, during an appearance at a campaign rally in Arizona ahead of the midterm elections next month.

While talking about the Iran war, the president starts polling the crowd, asking facetiously if any of them would like to be the new leader of Iran.

Joint US-Israeli strikes early in the war took out Iran’s supreme leader and much of its top echelons of leadership.

“So I probably went a little too far. I’m sorry, because I don’t know who the hell we’re dealing with anymore, but, that’s going to end very soon,” Trump says.

He also suggests during the rally that people who leak information about the government, including about the timing of strikes in Iran, “should be shot.”

“In my opinion, leakers should be shot,” he says. “In the old days, we used to shoot leakers, you know?”

He goes on to call people who leak “the scum of the earth” and says they should be “dealt with very, very strongly.”

Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.