President Obama’s recent comments comparing Republicans to Iranian hardliners who chant “death to America” is “offensive” and “over the top,” Council on Foreign Relations President Richard Haass said Monday during an MSNBC interview.

“The White House has been trying to delegitimize opposition to the Iran agreement. I find that offensive,” he said during a roundtable discussion on the White House’s efforts to strike a nuclear agreement with Tehran. The president and his allies have also suggested repeatedly that opponents of the deal would prefer a war with Iran.