MS NOW’s Chris Hayes continued his vile and disgusting opposition to the current war against Iran on Friday. It is not that Hayes is opposed to the war, but rather how he expresses his opposition. The All In host essentially declared that the U.S. is not differentiating between civilians and combatants, while former colleague Mehdi Hasan accused the crew of USS Charlotte of being worse than Nazis after the torpedoing of the Iranian frigate Dena.
Hayes and Hasan were discussing reports that suggest the U.S. is responsible for the strike that hit an Iranian girls’ school that resulted in many casualties. Hayes declared, “And so just from the, sort of, geopolitical strategic point, like on day one, to have this and to have the rhetoric being into the region, ‘We don’t care if you live or die’ to not make the distinction between, like, civilians and combatants just also strikes me as, like, wildly self-defeating at just the sort of tactical level.”
MS NOW’s Chris Hayes accuses the American military of deliberately targeting civilians “to have the rhetoric being into the region, “we don’t we don’t care if you live or die” to not make the distinction between civilians and combatants just also strikes me as, like, wildly… pic.twitter.com/9QOmSn5CKl
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) March 7, 2026
Earlier, Hayes did admit there was an IRGC base in close proximity to the school, which also used to be part of the base. When asked about it, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said, “We, of course, never target civilian targets” before referencing the investigation. That doesn’t sound like a government that does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
For his part, Hasan took things further, “Yes. It’s a moral abomination. And yes, it’s tactically stupid. They, you know, they bombed a submarine and just let the sailors drown to death. Going against—even the Nazis didn’t do that during World War II, apparently. Even the Nazis collected people from the water.”
Hasan butchered the basic facts: it was a submarine that sank a surface vessel with a torpedo, but that aside, the fact-checkers at Snopes looked into this claim and reported that the responsibility for rescuing the crew fell to Sri Lanka. Furthermore, U-boat commanders typically attacked at a range of 500 meters while it is estimated the Charlotte was probably about six to eight times that distance. Finally, crews are not required to render assistance if it would put them in danger, and considering submarines are supposed to be submerged, the Charlotte made a reasonable assessment.
However, Hasan was not done. Next, he turned his ire to President Trump, “This is insane rhetoric. Insane behavior from people who don’t give a damn. Donald Trump has never given a damn about Iranian lives. I see people in the diaspora cheering on this war, and I feel bad for them because Donald Trump screws over everyone, and he’s going to screw over the Iranian people as well. He’s a guy who has deported Iranians back to that government to be tortured or oppressed. He doesn’t care about the Iranian people.”
There are valid concerns one could have about this war, but Chris Hayes and his guests insist on comparing the U.S. to some of history’s biggest villains. Whatever one thinks of the wisdom behind the decision to go to war, the men and women who signed up to defend this country are not worse than Nazis, and they are not deliberately targeting civilians.
Here is a transcript for the March 6 show:
MS NOW All In With Chris Hayes
3/6/2026
8:51 PM ET
CHRIS HAYES: And so just from the, sort of, geopolitical strategic point, like on day one, to have this and to have the rhetoric being into the region, “We don’t we don’t care if you live or die” to not make the distinction between, like, civilians and combatants just also strikes me as, like, wildly self-defeating at just the sort of tactical level.
MEHDI HASAN: Yes. It’s a moral abomination. And yes, it’s tactically stupid. They, you know, they bombed a submarine and just let the sailors drown to death. Going against–even the Nazis didn’t do that during World War II, apparently. Even the Nazis collected people from the water.
This is insane rhetoric. Insane behavior from people who don’t give a damn. Donald Trump has never given a damn about Iranian lives. I see people in the diaspora cheering on this war, and I feel bad for them because Donald Trump screws over everyone, and he’s going to screw over the Iranian people as well. He’s a guy who has deported Iranians back to that government to be tortured or oppressed. He doesn’t care about the Iranian people.
