DELMARVA - Lawmakers from Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia are reacting to the news of the U.S. and Israel striking Iran overnight, with some expressing disapproval and concern over the military action.
President Donald Trump said Saturday that the U.S. started "major combat operations" in Iran, calling the military moves necessary to protect American interests and remove any possibility of Iran having nuclear weapons.
Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) said in a video statement "This does not advance America's interests around the world. It will not make us safer... It may advance the political ambitions of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, but it doesn't serve the American people. It will also cost us billions of dollars, and more, in lost credibility around the world... It's also a gross violation of international law just to go off and strike another country, however awful the government of that country may be."
Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a Democrat, said, "Has President Trump learned nothing from decades of U.S. meddling in Iran and forever wars in the Middle East?"
Kaine also said, "These strikes are a colossal mistake, and I pray they do not cost our sons and daughters in uniform and at embassies throughout the region their lives. The Senate should immediately return to session and vote on my War Powers Resolution to block the use of U.S. forces in hostilities against Iran."
Kaine's War Powers Resolution looks to remove any U.S. army troops in Iran that were not authorized by Congress to be engaging in combat there.
Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) said in part, "Iran is a dangerous regime and must never be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon... But President Trump’s reckless actions demonstrate a troubling lack of clear foreign policy strategy. He has inched us closer to war on a whim and the last thing we need is another open-ended war in the Middle East. The American people have made it abundantly clear that they are done with forever wars."
Blunt Rochester also called for a vote on Kaine's resolution, saying "The safety of our troops and innocent civilians across the Middle East must come first. ...these strikes were carried out without meaningful consultation with Congress or the American people. There is currently a bipartisan War Powers Resolution, and Congress should immediately return to Washington to hold a debate and vote. The Constitution is clear: decisions that risk drawing our nation into war cannot be made unilaterally. If further military action is necessary, the administration must come to Congress and seek explicit authorization."
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) echoed the sentiment, saying "The President said he would end wars — not start them. He lied. The President said he obliterated the Iranian nuclear program. He lied. The American people have no reason to trust this man with the lives of our sons and daughters. The Constitution is clear: ‘The Congress shall have Power…To declare War.’ Senators who still believe in the Constitution should join me in demanding we return to Washington today and vote on Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution."
President Trump also announced Saturday the strikes on Iran killed the nation's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Congressman Andy Harris (R-Md.) responded to WBOC's request for a statement, saying "The world is a better place with Iran’s Supreme Leader, who was also the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism, dead. President Trump’s leadership, and the brave men and women of our Armed Forces, have helped rid the world of evil.”
Congresswoman Sarah McBride (D-Del.) said, "This president appears determined to drag our country into yet another regime change war overseas rather than addressing problems here at home. Whether a full-scale regional war in the Middle East unfolds today or sometime in the future, this president’s shoot-first-ask-questions-later foreign policy inevitably leads to one place in the end: death, destruction, and destabilization."