A CNN panel discussion got heated when the guests squared off over the conflict between Israel and Iran – and the United States’ involvement in that conflict — specifically with regard to which of the parties involved, if any, had the “moral authority” to act.

Former independent presidential candidate Cornel West sparred with Republican commentator Scott Jennings and former Bush White House spokesman Pete Seat on the topic, and West claimed that neither the United States — after President Donald Trump authorized the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities — nor Israel had the “moral authority” to take action against Iran.

WATCH:

Let’s be clear: there’s no moral equivalence between the US and Israel vs. Iran. Anyone arguing otherwise is off their rocker. pic.twitter.com/ldLbXaDO6r

— Scott Jennings (@ScottJenningsKY) June 24, 2025

Seat defended Trump’s actions, arguing that the Iranian regime did not speak the language of diplomacy in the same way that other nations might.

“The Iranians do not speak the language of diplomacy unless force is used, and that is what President Trump and the United States used this past weekend in a precision, perfection way,” he explained.

West complained, “It’s illegal, unconstitutional.”

“It is not illegal in any way, shape, or form!” Seat pushed back.

West, who’d initially said it was unconstitutional, quickly moved the goalposts: “Of course, it is a violation of international law. You can’t violate national sovereignty of a country.”

“Why? We do it all the time,” Jennings weighed in then.

“I know because America violates international law all the time,” West claimed.

“Who’s gonna stop us?” Jennings asked. “Who’s gonna stop us?”

“You would think morality ought to play some role,” West commented.

“You think it’s immoral to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon? Who’s the moral actor here, Iran or the United States?” Jennings turned the question back on West.

“I think that any condition under which — in terms of ensuring that we don’t have nuclear bombs anywhere?” West asked.

“No, in terms of ensuring these butchers don’t have nuclear bombs that they have fully said that they will use on Israel and the United States,” Jennings said, clearly referencing Iran. “There’s no equivocation.”

“We’ve got the United States, Israel, what they’ve done in Gaza gives neither one of them moral authority,” West claimed. “That’s a genocide, that’s ethnic cleansing, Israel has no moral authority, United States has no moral authority.”

West then turned to Jennings and demanded his “Christian formulation” on how the United States or Israel were justified in their actions: “Where does the cross play a role, my brother? Where is the love? Where is the love for you, for Iranians, and for Palestinians and others?”

“We don’t live in a theocracy, but they do,” Jennings shot back. “And their theology is to get a nuclear weapon, destroy Israel, and destroy the Great Satan, which is the United States. Our government is based on one thing: national defense. And what’s in the best interest for our national defense is for these fanatics not to have a nuclear weapon where they can wipe us off the map.”