Lawmakers’ initial responses to President Joe Biden ordering retaliatory strikes against dozens of targets in Iraq and Syria are falling along party lines.
Republicans largely criticized the attacks as insufficient and late, while Democrats who spoke out expressed support for the commander in chief’s military moves. What members on both sides agreed upon was that the response was only in the beginning stages.
The United States began carrying out strikes against more than 85 targets at seven facilities, three in Iraq and four in Syria, using more than 125 precision munitions. The assault came in response to last weekend’s strike on a U.S. military post in Jordan that left three U.S. troops and more than 40 others injured. The U.S. has accused the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group of Iran-backed militias, of being responsible for the attack.
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“I thought the size of the attack, that 80-plus targets, using the bombers was a clear indication of our military might and our commitment to that,” Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told CNN in an interview on Friday evening shortly after the strikes were launched.
“He threaded the needle by making sure that we did not escalate this into a full-blown war first by telegraphing and letting folks know that we don’t want a war, but then also by attacking sites that are in Iraq and Syria, not attacking Tehran, as some of my colleagues have very carelessly called for,” she continued. “I thought this was a good first step, and we’ll wait to see what else he has in store for these folks who dared to attack U.S. troops.”
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) similarly pushed back on the notion of attacking Tehran directly, pointing to former President Donald Trump’s decision not to go through with such an assault in 2019. Trump instead waited months before ordering a precision strike that killed Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani, the famed Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader.
“I remember a very thoughtful meeting I had with President Trump when he brought us all down after a takedown of a U.S. drone and actually left us all with the impression that he was going to strike Iran that day,” Warner, a member of the gang of eight, said on Fox News. “He chose not to because of the implications of a wider war and literally took six months because he chose, as a president of the United States should, the time and place to extract the most harm.”
Republicans were not as satisfied with the attacks.
“These military strikes are welcome, but come far too late for the three brave Americans who died and the nearly 50 wounded,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), the top Republican on Armed Services, said in a statement. “Iran and its proxies have tried to kill American soldiers and sink our warships 165 times while the Biden administration congratulates itself for doing the bare minimum.
“Instead of giving the Ayatollah the bloody nose that he deserves, we continue to give him a slap on the wrist,” the statement read. “The Biden administration spent nearly a week foolishly telegraphing U.S. intentions to our adversaries, giving them time to relocate and hide. It is past time for our commander-in-chief to adopt a new approach that targets the actual sponsors of terrorism in the region.”
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) called Biden’s response to the attacks “disastrous to the point of being dangerous.”
“What would be more effective is to send the message to Iran’s leadership that if the Houthis continue to use Iranian missiles and Iranian intelligence from Iranian spy ships to target U.S. Navy vessels in the Red Sea, we will sink those Iranian spy ships,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “That is how you begin to reestablish deterrence.”
“The Biden administration needs a sustained, multi-faceted strategy that also focuses on non-military actions — in particular, reimposing the comprehensive sanctions against the Iranian oil and gas sector that proved to be so effective during the Trump administration,” he added.
“To stop attacks on Americans, Iran must know its support for terrorist proxies comes with a heavy price,” Sen. Deb Fischer (R-NE) wrote on X. “These strikes, announced well in advance, likely did not accomplish nearly enough to stop Iran’s axis. Whatever next steps the President takes must be significantly stronger.”
Sen. Ted Budd (R-NC) concurred, writing on the platform, “The retaliatory strikes against Iranian proxy targets are certainly warranted, but the fact that they were delayed and telegraphed makes them less likely to deter Iran and their proxies from their attacks on U.S. servicemembers.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) offered a similar take, noting in a Fox News interview, “I have little doubt that the pilots and their crews had a tactical success tonight. I think it’s an open question whether this will be a strategic success. … We’ll know soon enough whether the attacks have stopped.
“We have to have a serious, punishing response,” he added. “I have not yet seen that response in the reporting that I’ve heard over the last couple of hours.”
“If you want to avoid a war with Iran, the way to do that is to strike Iranians and its assets hard the way Donald Trump did in 2020 when he killed their terrorist mastermind Qassem Soleimani, the way Ronald Reagan did in 1988 when he sank half of Iran’s navy,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) office said the New York senator was notified ahead of the strikes, though a spokesman declined to comment further. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) office did not respond to requests for comment on the matter.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said in a statement, “The tragic deaths of three U.S. troops in Jordan, perpetrated by Iran-backed militias, demanded a clear and forceful response. Unfortunately, the administration waited for a week and telegraphed to the world, including to Iran, the nature of our response.
“The public handwringing and excessive signaling undercuts our ability to put a decisive end to the barrage of attacks endured over the past few months,” he added.
Mike Brest contributed to this report.
