Marc Short, the chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence, earlier downplayed the prospect of U.S. military action.
“I think ‘locked and loaded’ means several things. One thing that it means is that America today under this president is far better prepared to handle these sort of events because we’re now a net exporter of oil,” Short said in an interview on Fox Business Network. “We know that Iran has been trying to instigate attacks against Saudi Arabia for some time.”
Senators’ Views
Chris Coons, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday morning that military action against Iran may be warranted, depending on information gathered by U.S. intelligence services.
“My hope is that the president will consult with his generals, his diplomats, his advisers, will look hard at the intelligence,” Coons said in an interview on “Fox and Friends,” a show the president often watches. “Iran is one of the most dangerous state sponsors of terrorism. This may well be the thing that calls for military action against Iran if that’s what the intelligence supports.”
But Coons faced criticism from liberals for his remarks, and a Democratic colleague, Hawaii Senator Brian Schatz, said on Twitter: “There is no imminent threat and the U.S. military is not authorized to retaliate on behalf of another country.”
Most of the vetoes Trump has issued during his presidency were of bipartisan resolutions regarding Saudi Arabia, and every time Congress has failed to muster enough votes to override his veto.
Trump Vetoes
One of the measures sought to end U.S. assistance for Saudi Arabia’s war against Houthi rebels in Yemen, citing the humanitarian disaster caused by the conflict. Trump also vetoed three resolutions to curb U.S. arms sales to Saudi Arabia.
The rift between Trump and some Republicans began after the murder of Khashoggi, a U.S.-based columnist for the Washington Post. The Senate is still considering punishment for Saudi officials alleged to be involved in the killing, including a bipartisan measure to suspend arms sales to the kingdom and impose sanctions on those found responsible for the Khashoggi murder, potentially including Prince Mohammed.
James Carafano, a foreign policy analyst at the Heritage Institute, a conservative research group, said Iran needs to be held accountable for its behavior, but that the U.S. would be better off supporting a Saudi Arabian response, rather than launching its own.
“The Saudis need to have some backbone. This was not an attack on the U.S. forces or U.S. bases, this was an attack on Saudi Arabia,” Carafano said. “If you’re going to conduct a retaliatory strike, you have to make the case to the world that this is warranted and appropriate.”