Sen. James Lankford (R-OK) said President Donald Trump‘s decision to strike Iran and destroy their nuclear enrichment capacity prevented a potential terrorist attack.
The U.S. targeted the Fordow fuel enrichment plant, as well as the Natanz and Isfahan nuclear facilities on Saturday. Trump confirmed that the three sites were “totally obliterated” by six 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs and 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
“President Trump has made it clear he’s not trying to start a war in the Middle East, he’s trying to protect American lives around the world. People forget that there are 700,000 Americans that are in Israel right now, and they are facing an onslaught,” Lankford said on Fox News Sunday.
The senator cited 174 attacks on American warships off the coast of Yemen by Houthi rebels. This resulted in traffic in the Suez Canal dropping by 82%, according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, the Houthis were “enabled” by Iran to target ships there.
Lankford reiterated that Iran is the “same country that operates Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, the Shia militias in Iraq that attacked American citizens, all those attacks on American warships that are coming through the Gulf.”
“That same entity is the same one developing a nuclear weapon and chanting at the same time, ‘Death to America.’ That is a threat and the president has to make a difficult decision to say one is the moment to be able to prevent that threat from happening,” Lankford said. “If we know they plan and then tend to attack us we will stop them to be able to protect American lives. We don’t want to go to war, but we won’t let them attack us.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has sowed doubt in the claims that a terrorist attack was on the horizon. In a statement, Massie said “there was no imminent threat to the United States which would authorize” a strike like Trump ordered without consulting Congress.
Massie took issue with the fact that the strike happened on a weekend when the House was on recess. The Kentucky representative expressed his desire that his joint resolution with Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) had been debated and voted on before the decision was made. This resolution mirrors that of Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA), whose own resolution requires congressional debate and a vote before the U.S. takes any offensive measures against Iran.
These recent efforts by Massie prompted a rebuke from Trump.
MARKWAYNE MULLIN DEFENDS IRAN STRIKES THAT WERE ‘WELL WITHIN’ TRUMP’S AUTHORITY
“Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Sunday. “He’s a simple minded ‘grandstander’ who thinks it’s good politics for Iran to have the highest level Nuclear weapon, while at the same time yelling ‘DEATH TO AMERICA’ at every chance they get. Iran has killed and maimed thousands of Americans, and even took over the American Embassy in Tehran under the Carter Administration. We had a spectacular military success yesterday, taking the ‘bomb’ right out of their hands (and they would use it if they could!) but, as usual, and despite all of the praise and accolades received, this ‘lightweight’ Congressman is against what was so brilliantly achieved last night in Iran.”
Massie has often bucked his party, also voting against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last month. At the time, he was joined by Reps. Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Andy Harris (R-MD), with all three citing their concerns over the nation’s deficit.