Elizabeth Warren claims Trump ordered Iran air strike to ‘distract from his impeachment trial’

SENATOR Elizabeth Warren accused President Donald Trump of ordering air strikes on Iran and fueling discord in the Middle East to distract from his impeachment trial.

The 2020 presidential candidate suggested that Trump may be leading America into war in a fury over his impending impeachment trial in a Sunday morning appearance on NBC's Meet the Press.

"We know that Donald Trump is very upset about this upcoming impeachment trial," she told host Chuck Todd.

"But look what he's doing now. He is taking us to the edge of war."

Warren said that the decades-long conflict has "cost thousands of American lives" in addition to the millions more in the Middle East who have been killed, injured, or displaced abroad.

"We've been at war for 20 years in the Middle East, and now he's talking about expanding that war.

"This has been something that has cost thousands of American lives. It has cost us enormously in many ways, both at home and around the world.

"At the same time, look what it's done to the Middle East, millions of people who've been killed, who've been injured, who've been displaced."

She added: "The job of the president is to make us safer, the job of the president is not to move us to the edge of war."

The president caused an uproar on Twitter when he threatened to hit 52 culturally important Iranian sites in response to potential retaliation over the US killing of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani.

Several key Democratic figures, including Warren herself and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, condemned Trump's tweet.

"You are threatening to commit war crimes," wrote Warren.

"The American people do not want a war with Iran. This is a democracy. You do not get to start a war with Iran, and your threats put our troops and diplomats at greater risk. Stop."

AOC called the threat a "war crime" and deemed Trump a "monster" for targeting families and children.

"This is a war crime," she tweeted.

"Threatening to target and kill innocent families, women and children - which is what you're doing by targeting cultural sites - does not make you a "tough guy."

"It does not make you strategic. It makes you a monster."

Former vice president and 2020 challenger Joe Biden called Trump "irrational."

"The more the walls close in on this guy, the more irrational he becomes," he tweeted.

Iranian Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanei vowed to "fight back" at the US on Wednesday, warning that the country would hit back "without hesitation" against anyone who threatened the nation's interests.

Hints of a possible retaliatory response from Iran came when rockets struck an area close to the US embassy in Baghdad on Saturday.

Military officials said no American servicemen were injured in the two attacks.