Senate Republicans — including the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee — called on President Trump to resume military strikes on Iran on Friday after he met with his senior national security team and Tehran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman slow-walked diplomacy.
“We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said in a statement on Friday. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”
It came after Trump huddled at the White House with Vice President Vance, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and other officials to discuss possible strikes on Iran, Axios reported.
The same day, the president announced he’d canceled weekend plans — even missing his eldest son Don Jr.’s wedding in the Bahamas — citing his duty to stay in Washington to deal with “circumstances” believed to be Iran.
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Trump this week made clear US forces are at the ready to launch strikes at any moment should he decide to take that route. He nearly launched strikes on Tuesday, before Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states convinced him to delay military action as they believed a peace deal was close.
At least some US troops’ holiday weekend leave has been canceled as a precaution, a source familiar with military planning told The Post. The service branches did not respond to requests for comment.
The Pentagon also culled some troops from military bases in the Middle East should Iran attempt to retaliate should Trump decide to attack, CBS reported Friday.
The news came the same day Iran war-opponent Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard submitted her letter of resignation, citing her husband’s bone cancer.
Meanwhile, Tehran threatened retaliation should the US strike, claiming they have “new equipment, “novel targets” and new “war strategy,” according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim News.
“America knows that the path to any military superiority is closed,” an Iranian military source told IRNA. “If America engages in excess demands, pretext-making, and potential military action, it will experience its third major punishment in less than a year; this time in a more specific and novel form.”ncer.
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark) also said the US needs to “finish the job” on Iran.
“The airstrikes last summer destroyed all their nuclear infrastructure, but it’s clear that they didn’t abandon their nuclear ambition,” he told Arkansas Money and Politics. “… We need to finish the job and make it clear that we won’t tolerate them threatening free commerce on the high seas.”
Wicker went a step further, criticizing current diplomatic efforts to secure a deal with Iran — as both Pakistani and Qatari officials engaged in a now-or-never push to get Iran to sign an agreement with the US to restart talks.
“Our commander-in-chief needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait,” the 74-year-old SASC chairman said in a statement.
“… Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness,” he added.
Such an agreement is not even close to coming to fruition as the gaps between Washington and Tehran remain “deep and numerous,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei told the IRNA state media outlet on Friday.
“We cannot say that we will definitely reach a conclusion within a few weeks or months with a few visits or negotiations,” he said. “Diplomacy takes time and the parties use every opportunity to convey their views.”
He also reiterated that Iran remained unwilling to discuss its nuclear file, dousing hopes that an agreement could be reached to continue talks as Pakistan and Qatar met with Iranian officials in Tehran to push for an agreement that the US could support.
For more than a month, Tehran has resisted making any concessions to the US over its atomic program, releasing its buried enriched uranium or reopening the Strait of Hormuz to free navigation.
The Trump administration has repeatedly said it would not begin a second round of talks with Iran until the Islamic Republic is willing to give up its nuclear ambitions.
Rep. Pat Fallon on Friday voiced support for the president’s push to rid Iran of its nuclear ambitions.
“For nearly five decades, the Iranian regime has made it its mission to sow chaos, death and destruction across the region,” he said in a post to X. “Iran must NEVER be allowed to acquire a nuclear weapon.”
Trump has repeatedly said he would launch strikes as soon as this weekend if the Iranians are still unable to come to an agreement with the US.
