Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) commended President Donald Trump on X Saturday morning for the U.S. strikes in Iran, becoming one of the first Democratic lawmakers to support the military action.
“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” Fetterman said on X. “God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”
Trump announced early Saturday morning that the United States military had begun “Operation Epic Fury,” after multiple explosions were reported around Iran.
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The U.S. launched a joint wave of military strikes with Israel against Iran early Saturday morning, with Tehran being the first target.
“Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime,” Trump said in a video posted on Truth Social. “The United States military has undertaken a massive and ongoing operation to prevent this very wicked, radical dictatorship from threatening America and our core national security interests.”
“We are going to destroy their missiles and raise their missile industry to the ground. It will be totally again obliterated. We are going to annihilate their navy,” Trump added.
Fetterman’s remarks about the strikes in Iran differed from those in his party. While Republicans have been praising Trump online, a majority of Democrats have taken to social media to condemn the U.S.’s military involvement in Iran.
In the weeks leading up to Operation Epic Fury, Fetterman was outspoken in his support of possible military action in Iran.
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As protests broke out in Iran in December, Fetterman said he would “absolutely” support military strikes in Iran.
“Sure, absolutely. And now if it continues to make more sense, absolutely,” Fetterman said of U.S. involvement.
In June, Fetterman joined his Republican colleagues in rejecting a war powers resolution that would have prevented the use of military forces against Iran, unless explicitly authorized by Congress.
Senators voted 47-53, largely along party lines, on Sen. Tim Kaine’s (D-VA) resolution. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who often opposes foreign interventions, was the single Republican to vote with Democrats in support of the resolution.
Fetterman had also supported the United States’s military strikes, Operation Midnight Hammer, that targeted Iranian nuclear facilities in June.
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“I think I was the only Democrat that fully supported our strike of the Iranian nuclear facilities last year,” Fetterman told CNN in January. “And now by then, without those kinds of strikes, Iran could have acquired a nuclear bomb. I think I hope we can all agree that Iran should have never acquired a nuclear bomb.”
“Now, for me, I think we can all agree that the world would be better, safer, and more just if you could break that regime,” he added.