REUTERS/Mike Cassese
Maple Leaf Foods Inc. President and Chief Executive Officer Michael McCain speaks during the annual general meeting of shareholders in Toronto April 28, 2011.
- Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, took over his company's Twitter account to blast US leaders for the series of events in Iran that led to the downing of a Ukrainian plane that killed 63 Canadians.
- McCain called US President Donald Trump a "narcissist in Washington" and attacked him for his role in escalating tensions between the US and Iran.
- McCain went on the Twitter diatribe after a colleague at Maple Leaf Foods lost his wife and 11-year-old son in the plane crash, which Iran admitted was its fault.
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The chief executive of a Canadian company took over his company's Twitter account Sunday to blast the US government and President Donald Trump for their role in escalating tensions with Iran, culminating in an Iranian missile strike that struck down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752 and killed 63 Canadians.
In a series of tweets, Michael McCain, the CEO of Canadian meat processing company Maple Leaf Foods, expressed his anger about the series of events between the US and Iran that he called "needless" and "irresponsible." A colleague at the company lost his wife and 11-year-old son in the plane crash.
The lengthy Twitter diatribe on heightened US-Iran tensions was primarily aimed at Trump, whom he called "a narcissist in Washington."
"A narcissist in Washington tears world accomplishments apart; destabilizes region," McCain wrote on Twitter. "US now unwelcomed everywhere in the area including Iraq; tensions escalated to feverish pitch."
Tweet Embed://twitter.com/mims/statuses/1216529697288355840?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
I'm Michael McCain, CEO of Maple Leaf Foods, and these are personal reflections. I am very angry, and time isn't making me less angry. A MLF colleague of mine lost his wife and family this week to a needless, irresponsible series of events in Iran...Tweet Embed:
//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1216529700027273221?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
..A narcissist in Washington tears world accomplishments apart; destabilizes region. US now unwelcomed everywhere in the area including Iraq; tensions escalated to feverish pitch. Taking out despicable military leader terrorist? There are a hundred like him, standing next in line
McCain was particularly critical of the US drone strike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, which dramatically escalated tensions between the two countries as top Iranian officials and citizens alike called for revenge. McCain expressed that assassinating Soleimani, who he called a "despicable military leader terrorist," was needless given that there are "a hundred like him, standing next in line."
'We are mourning and I am livid'
The CEO said he thought Trump was "unconstrained by checks/balances" in his actions against Iran and blamed him for the "collateral damage" of Soleimani's assassination: the lives of 63 Canadians caught in the crossfire, including his colleague's family.
"The collateral damage of this irresponsible, dangerous, ill-conceived behavior? 63 Canadians needlessly lost their lives in the crossfire," McCain wrote in a tweet thread that has garnered over 50,000 likes. "We are mourning and I am livid."
McCain has been CEO of Maple Leaf Foods since 1999, Yahoo Finance reported. According to the company's website, it made 3.5 billion Canadian dollars in sales last year and currently employs 12,500 individuals.
Maple Leaf Foods declined Business Insider's request for comment, but wrote that "Michael would prefer to let the messages in his tweets speak for themselves."
Trump's decision to assassinate Soleimani prompted a faceoff between Iran and the US that many believed would lead to war between the two countries after Iran launched missile strikes against two military bases in Iraq where US troops were stationed.
Hours after the strike, Ukranian International Airlines Flight 752 crashed after taking off from Tehran, Iran, killing all 176 passengers on board. On Saturday, Iran admitted to accidentally taking down the plane, which flew close to a military base.
- Read more:
- Ukrainian Flight 752 was on fire and seemed to be turning back before it crashed in Iran and killed 176 people, the first report into the disaster said
- Trump's argument for killing Soleimani is falling apart, and the president is being accused of telling Fox News more about the assassination than Congress
- Iran admits it shot down Ukrainian Airlines flight 752, blaming human error
- Trump reportedly authorized the Soleimani strike 7 months ago, throwing a wrench through his argument that there was an 'imminent threat'