Paul Gosar defends sharing doctored photo of Barack Obama and Iranian president

Rep. Paul Gosar shared a doctored photograph on social media Monday purportedly showing former President Barack Obama meeting with his Iranian counterpart.

The Arizona Republican posted a photo from his personal Twitter account that had been edited to show Mr. Obama shaking hands and smiling alongside Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

“The world is a better place without these guys in power,” Mr. Gosar captioned the photo.

Mr. Obama and Mr. Rouhani have never met, and the latter is currently still president of Iran.

Several fellow Twitter users quickly criticized Mr. Gosar for sharing the doctored image, prompting the congressman to defend himself by tweeting more than 40 minutes later that “no one said this wasn’t photoshopped.”

“No one said the president of Iran was dead. No one said Obama met with Rouhani in person,” Mr. Gosar reasoned. “The point remains to all but the dimmest: Obama coddled, appeased, nurtured and protected the worlds No. 1 sponsor of terror. The world is better without Obama as president. The world will be better off without Rouhani.”

Ms. Gosar shared the image amid fears of a full-fledged war breaking out between both countries after an American airstrike last week killed a top Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani.

Several of his Democratic colleagues on Capitol Hill have since spoken out again the tweet, including Rep. Sean Casten of Illinois and Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota.

“The world would be a better place if elected officials didn’t share photoshopped images and take pride in being ignorant,” Mr. Casten tweeted. “This is irresponsible.”

“The GOP’s commitment to the distribution and trafficking of misinformation is alarming,” Ms. Omar tweeted. “Congressman, this is disgraceful and shameless act, do better!”

Mr. Gosar has previously faced criticism for sharing bogus information on social media, including recently boosting a conspiracy theory about the son of liberal megadonor George Soros.