Former Rep. Ron Paul said in two recent interviews that he supports the Obama administration’s nuclear agreement with Iran, calling it “to the benefit of world peace.”

Paul’s statements stand in contrast to his son, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has said he will vote against the deal.

Ron Paul told “The Michael Berry Show” on Friday that a lot of opposition to the deal comes from an unfair view of Iranians, according to Buzzfeed

ADVERTISEMENT

“We have learned and been conditioned to distrust and hate the Persians, and that they’re gonna kill us,” Paul said. “But there’s no history to show that Iran are aggressive people.”

“When’s the last time they invaded a country? Over 200 years ago!” he added, comparing Iran’s support for terror groups to “what our CIA does.”

“We’re in 160 countries, and Iran is, you know, involved with Hezbollah and the others, trying to protect their interests,” Paul said.

He compared Obama’s deal to one reached by Ronald Reagan with Soviet Russia in the 1980s.

“Reagan did another deal with the Soviets, at the height [of the Cold War], and they had 30,000 missiles!” Paul said.

“They didn’t say boo about Reagan doing it!” he added. “And yet that was even a bigger gamble — but it was the right gamble to make.”

Ron Paul told Newsmax on Tuesday that the agreement was a step toward a better world, even if it doesn’t achieve everything it could.

"There's something to be said about moving in the direction of at least talking to people instead of saying, 'All right, you're scoundrels, we'll keep our $100 billion we've taken from you and all options are on the table, like if you don't do what we tell you, we're allowed to use our nuclear weapons against you,' " Paul said.

"The tone has been changed. It's to our benefit; it's to the benefit of world peace,” he added