A New York Times reporter praised Iran for showing 'more restraint' than the US — nevermind the passenger jet they shot out of the sky, killing 176

New York Times foreign correspondent Rukmini Callimachi praised the Iranian regime Monday for supposedly showing "more restraint" than the U.S. amid escalating tensions in the Middle East, Newsbusters reports.

What did she say?

Appearing on "MSNBC Live with Ali Velshi," Callimachi criticized the U.S. following the rocket strike that killed Iranian terrorist military leader Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, arguing that the action violated international law and sent the wrong message to others in the region.

"The perception of America right now, I would say, in the Middle East, is that we act outside the law. I hear this all the time from Iraqis, from Syrians, who do not see a legal process behind what we are doing," she said.

"What's the consequence of that? Velshi then asked.

"For one, I believe that American civilians are much less safe in places like Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, areas where at one point we could walk around freely and now where we have to watch out for our security," Callimachi answered.

But she wasn't done yet. She still needed to contrast America's supposed recklessness with Iran's apparent diplomacy.

"One of the takeaways of the past week is that we actually saw, in my opinion, Iran act with perhaps more restraint than our own government," Callimachi continued, referencing Iran's retaliatory missile strikes on military facilities in Iraq housing U.S. troops.

Did she forget about the Iranian missile strike that downed a Ukrainian passenger jet?

It is difficult enough to follow Callimachi's logic given the fact that Soleimani, Iran's former top military leader, was responsible for orchestrating 17 percent of all deaths of U.S. personnel in Iraq from 2003 to 2011, or that Iran has killed at least 1,500 of its own people during protests in the country in recent months, or that Iranian members of parliament chanted, "Death to America" in the days following the Soleimani killing.

But all that is not to mention the fact that Iran sent a missile into a Ukrainian passenger jet earlier this month, killing all 176 people on board, After days of denying responsibility, Iran finally admitted they shot down the plane "unintentionally."

Even so, "restraint" does not seem to be correct word.