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WASHINGTON — Republican leaders and pro-Israel Democrats in Congress rallied behind Israel after it carried out preemptive strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities and killed top military leaders on Thursday night.
“Israel and the United States have been united, including in our shared insistence that Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon. President Trump and his Administration have worked tirelessly to ensure that outcome,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) Friday morning.
“Unfortunately, Iran has refused to agree and even declared yesterday its intent to build a new enrichment facility,” Johnson added. “Israel decided it needed to take action to defend itself. They were clearly within their right to do so.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) in a statement Thursday night noted the UN’s nuclear watchdog had also just censured Iran for continuing to enrich uranium to near weapons-grade levels.
“For too long, the mullahs in Iran have publicly aspired to wipe the only democracy in the Middle East off the face of the map via any means possible: funding and arming terror groups on Israel’s borders, choking off international sea lanes, and multiple barrages of missiles and drones,” Thune said.
“Today, Israel has determined that it must take decisive action to defend the Israeli people,” he added. “The United States Senate stands ready to work with President Trump and with our allies in Israel to restore peace in the region and, first and foremost, to defend the American people from Iranian aggression, especially our troops and civilians serving overseas.”
Operation Rising Lion targeted nuclear facilities and missile sites — and eliminated the leader of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen. Hossein Salami, Tehran’s military leader Mohammad Bagheri, emergency command head Gholam Ali Rashid and six nuclear scientists.
“thank u, next,” staunch Israel supporter Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) posted on X in response to the Iranian state media confirming Salami’s death.
“Our commitment to Israel must be absolute and I fully support this attack. Keep wiping out Iranian leadership and the nuclear personnel,” Fetterman added. “We must provide whatever is necessary — military, intelligence, weaponry — to fully back Israel in striking Iran.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a national address Thursday said he would not “leave these threats for the next generation” and the Israel Defense Forces would continue its attacks for “as many days as it takes.”
Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the strikes a “declaration of war,” and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said “the Zionist regime has prepared for itself a bitter and painful fate.”
“Make no mistake: Israel is not the aggressor. It is defending itself against an existential threat that long predates the present preemptive strike,” agreed Bronx Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres. “The true aggressor is the Islamic Republic and its empire of terror — an empire stained with the blood of innocent Israelis.”
“Iran is the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism and poses an existential threat to our key democratic ally, Israel,” added Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). “Iran and her terror proxies have also attacked American bases, service members, and ships.”
“I fully stand with the people of Israel and support her right to defend herself against Iran’s nuclear and terror programs,” he said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries affirmed “that Iran should never be allowed to become nuclear capable” during an interview on MSNBC Thursday night but also called for “a reduction in hostilities.”
“I’m hopeful that cooler heads will prevail in the Middle East and the situation is de-escalated,” Jeffries said on “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has yet to release a statement, but other Democratic senators were quick to condemn Israel’s actions.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) claimed the attack was “clearly intended to scuttle the Trump Administration’s negotiations with Iran” and that the president was responsible for allowing Tehran to increase its uranium enrichment levels after pulling out of a nuclear deal with Tehran in 2018.
“Iran would not be this close to possessing a nuclear weapon if Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu had not forced America out of the nuclear agreement with Iran that had brought Europe, Russia, and China together behind the United States to successfully contain Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” Murphy said.
“This is deeply disturbing,” added Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on MSNBC’s “All In with Chris Hayes.”
Read the latest on the conflict between Israel and Iran
“We need more negotiation; we need de-escalation; we need to get to a deal.”
President Trump’s administration had been negotiating for two months with Tehran’s regime about its nuclear program, with Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff expected to engage in a sixth round of talks with Iranian officials in Oman on Sunday — before Israel launched its attack.
“Two months ago, I gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum to ‘make a deal.’ They should have done it! Today is day 61,” Trump posted on his Truth Social Friday morning. “I told them what to do, but they just couldn’t get there. Now they have, perhaps, a second chance!”
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency disclosed to states comprising its board of governors in late May that Iran had nearly doubled its stockpile of 60%-enriched uranium since February, leading to the censure vote Thursday put forward by France, Germany and the UK.
