Former Arkansas governor and presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Tuesday criticized the United States’ release of five Taliban terrorists in exchange for kidnapped soldier Bowe Bergdahl.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva at the end of his visit to Israel, Huckabee said, “These guys weren’t [jailed] for stealing bicycles or snatching gum off the counter of a 7/11. They were there because they had masterminded the murders of thousands of people. These are horrible, horrible monsters. They don’t need to be allowed out for any reason.”

He added, “I fear that this sends a message that if you kidnap an American, you can use that person as a bargaining chip, and I feel now for every teenager touring around Europe on vacation. I fear for every diplomat who might be on his way to the embassy. I think it just makes America and Americans in a much more dangerous place.”

Asked about the possibility that the U.S. would cooperate with Iran with regards to the situation in Iraq, Huckabee said that if the United States trusts Iran, “then I would like to sell them some oceanfront property in Utah.”

“I cannot imagine that we would have any sense of trust that the Iranian government is ever going to be our partner,” he said. “If the Iranians want to take any action [in Iraq], that’s their business. But the only thing we need to be dealing with Iran right now is to make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon, and stop pretending that we can make nice with them, because we cannot.”