Governor Josh Shapiro appeared as a guest during an episode of “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday, March 13, during which he was asked about his position on Iran.

“Our chief negotiator said they were talking to Iran up until the war started. He said their opening salvo at the negotiations, ‘We’re a couple of weeks away from having 11 bombs,’” Maher said. “If you were the president, and you got that information, you would still do nothing?”

“No. What I would do and what the president of the United States failed to do was be clear with the American people about what the hell we were doing here,” Shapiro responded. “Was the plan to go after the nuclear weapons? The weapons, by the way, he said were destroyed … seven months ago. Was the plan to go and do regime change? In which case, who the hell is going to take over? I don’t think the son [Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei] is any better than the father. Was the plan to go in there later, but you got forced because Netanyahu forced your hand? I think if you don’t have clarity about why you’re going in, you have no way of knowing how the hell to get out.”

Shapiro noted that he was opposed to the Iranian regime’s actions and that he never viewed the late ayatollah as a “good person” and that he is “not shedding a tear” for regime members who were killed.

“[The ayatollah] chanted, for five decades, ‘Death to America.’ These are people who blew up and killed Americans. These are not good people,” he said. “What I am saying, though, is, if you are the commander in chief, you have a responsibility to the people you send into harm’s way, a responsibility to the American people to explain why it is you’re doing what you’re doing and how the hell you get out of it once the mission is accomplished. The president has yet to look the American people in the eye and explain that, and that is a failure of leadership.”

Maher opened the segment by suggesting Shapiro’s new book, titled “Where We Keep the Light“, is indicative of a 2028 presidential run.

“What is the story with always writing a book when you’re running for president?” Maher asked.

“I wrote a book to try and highlight the people that bring light in my state, the people I see every day doing good things. Because our politics don’t match the goodness of what I see on the ground every day,” Shapiro responded.

The episode is available for streaming on Max (formerly HBO Max) and can be found as a podcast on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

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