President Donald Trump’s sudden announcement Saturday night that he bombed three Iranian nuclear sites has Republican skeptics of U.S. military action against Iran largely falling in line.
The prospect of strikes against Iran had sparked backlash from Democrats and days of infighting within Trump’s MAGA coalition, but after the president posted on Truth Social that the U.S. has bombed Iran, several GOP critics cheered the strikes as a limited action. Several top Democrats denounced the strikes as illegal and warned they could drag the U.S. into another Middle East war.
The prospect of U.S. strikes on Iran had sparked debate between Republicans pressing for the U.S. to aid in regime change and isolationist voices who warned a full-scale war would betray Trump’s “America First” approach.
“Iran gave President Trump no choice,” Charlie Kirk, a conservative activist and critic of GOP war hawks, said on X. “For a decade he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb. This is a surgical strike, operated perfectly. President Trump acted with prudence and decisiveness.”
Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, Trump’s one-time pick for the attorney general post who had warned of the Middle East conflict turning into another drawn out war for the U.S., said on X that the president’s strike didn’t necessarily portend a larger conflict, and likened it to the strike of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani during Trump’s first term
“President Trump basically wants this to be like the Solimani strike — one and done,” Gaetz wrote. “No regime change war. Trump the Peacemaker!
Some Republicans had expressed doubts that bombing Fordow (also known as Fordo) would end the threats, including Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-Mont.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. But after the strikes, Sheehy called Saturday’s military action the “right decision.”
“To the naysayers out there, this isn’t starting a war, this is ending one,” he said. “Iran has been at war with America for 46 years. The Iranian people should rise up and put an end to this murderous regime.”
Democrats, meanwhile, were largely unified in opposition to the strikes, arguing Trump lacks the legal authority even if the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program is a positive goal.
Trump shocked Washington and the country with a post revealing that U.S. aircraft had already bombed three Iranian nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan. The move drew recriminations from critics — and even some allies — who argued Trump had no legal authority to launch the offensive strikes against Iran’s nuclear program.
Top Democrats on the House and Senate Intel Committees — Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) and Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), both members of Gang of Eight — were reportedly not briefed before the attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
“According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop,” Himes said on X.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries slammed Trump’s strikes as reckless and unauthorized, demanding a full classified briefing for Congress and warning it risks “a disastrous war in the Middle East.”
“Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action,” Jeffries said in a statement.
Jeffries and Democrats were not briefed before the strike, according to a person familiar with the situation, though some were notified shortly before Trump’s first Truth Social post. Shortly before the announcement, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer received a perfunctory notification without details.
Trump’s fellow Republicans who’d pressed for the president to join Israel’s military operations against Tehran quickly cheered the decision.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), one of the Senate’s most hawkish Republicans, said the bombing was “the right call,” and that “The regime deserves it.”
Some hawkish Republicans argued ahead of the strikes that Trump had a historic opportunity to set back Iran’s nuclear program despite potential retaliation from Iran against America’s bases and allies in the Middle East.
“Iran has waged a war of terror against the United States for 46 years,” Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.). “We could never allow Iran to get nuclear weapons. God bless our brave troops. President Trump made the right call and the ayatollahs should recall his warning not to target Americans.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was briefed on the strikes ahead of time, a person with direct knowledge of the matter told POLITICO. In a post on X, Johnson called it “America First policy in action.”
“The President’s decisive action prevents the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism, which chants ‘Death to America,’ from obtaining the most lethal weapon on the planet,” he wrote.
Still, the attack left some MAGA isolationists distressed. And it could ramp up pressure for votes in the House and Senate on war powers legislation on Iran when Congress returns next week.
Longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon, who has been wary of U.S. military involvement, was livestreaming on his show as the president made the announcement. Bannon argued that Trump should use his address Saturday evening to “talk to MAGA” to explain why he opted to attack Iran.
“This is not Constitutional,” said Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) on X following the president’s post. The Kentucky lawmaker has clashed with Trump and is one of the most vocal Republican detractors of U.S. involvement in Iran. This week, Massie, along with several House Democrats filed a House resolution seeking to block U.S. involvement in the conflict.
“While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional,” conservative Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) tweeted. “I look forward to his remarks tonight.”
Progressive Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), one of the Democrats who teamed with Massie, said lawmakers should “immediately return to DC” to approve their resolution “to prevent America from being dragged into another endless Middle East war.”
It’s unclear what legal justification the administration is using to support its attack on Iran, an ambiguity that could fuel attempts to rein Trump in. Across the Capitol, Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) has planned to force a vote on his own resolution to block action against Iran without congressional authorization and could do so as soon as this week.“The American public is overwhelmingly opposed to the U.S. waging war on Iran,” Kaine said on X. “And the Israeli Foreign Minister admitted yesterday that Israeli bombing had set the Iranian nuclear program back ‘at least 2 or 3 years.’ So what made Trump recklessly decide to rush and bomb today? Horrible judgment.”
Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who is pushing his own Iran legislation, slammed Trump’s strike in a stop at his “Fight Oligarchy” tour in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The crowd chanted “No more war” in unison with raised fists as Sanders passionately called into question the president’s legal authority for hitting Iran.
“Not only is this news that I’ve just heard this second alarming, that all of you have just heard, but it is so grossly unconstitutional,” Sanders said. “All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. The president does not have the right.”
Nicholas Wu, Jordain Carney and Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report
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