President Joe Biden accidentally misspoke when he was referencing Ukraine during his State of the Union address.
During his speech on Tuesday night, Biden hailed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the citizens of Ukraine for their courage in the face of Russia’s invasion.
He went on to lay out the steps that the U.S. and its allies have taken to punish Russia for it its invasion.
Finally, Biden said, “Putin may circle Kyiv with tanks, but he will never gain the hearts and souls of the Uranian people.”
“He will never extinguish their love of freedom. He will never, never weaken the resolve of the free world,” he added.
Watch the video below:
#SOTU: President Biden accidentally says "Iranian people" instead of "Ukrainian people." pic.twitter.com/as4zFouYbI
— Forbes (@Forbes) March 2, 2022
Reactions poured in as social media users noted it appeared that he said “Iranian people”:
Unreal. https://t.co/gcokNQ7qmS
— Claudia Tenney (@claudiatenney) March 2, 2022
Did he say Iranian instead of Ukrainian?
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) March 2, 2022
Joe Biden just said Putin will never weaken the will of the Iranian people. He meant the Ukrainian people. Good lord.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) March 2, 2022
Iranian people, Uranium people, Ukrainian people! You know…the thing!
— Nick Short (@PoliticalShort) March 2, 2022
Did he say Iranian people? #SOTU2022
— Eli Lake (@EliLake) March 2, 2022
https://twitter.com/mehdirhasan/status/1498845965482086403
Yes, Biden just said "Iranian" instead of "Ukrainian".
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) March 2, 2022
A gaffe, but technically true since Putin *is* unlikely to gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people.
🤦♂️🤦♂️ he just said "the Iranian people" instead of Ukrainian. here we go…
— steve hilton (@SteveHiltonx) March 2, 2022
Did he just say “Iranian people”#SOTU
— Miranda Devine (@mirandadevine) March 2, 2022
Biden says Putin will "never gain the hearts and souls of the Iranian people." pic.twitter.com/HW9DzX5AhQ
— Abigail Jackson 🇺🇸 (@abigailmarone) March 2, 2022
Biden’s comments come as Ukraine braced for further Russian attacks.
As Reuters notes, almost one week after Russia began its attack on Ukraine, it failed to capture a single city as of Tuesday evening.
In the face of stiff resistance, Russia has stepped up its attacks, and a massive convoy of armored vehicles and tanks is heading toward Kyiv, Ukraine — the capital.
Additionally, the Associated Press reports, “Although Ukrainian forces have slowed Russia’s advance and still control Kharkiv and the coastal cities of Kherson and Mariupol, all three are encircled, according to the U.K. Ministry of Defense.”