Vice President Mike Pence briefed Senate Republicans in a closed-door meeting Tuesday on the oil field attack in Saudi Arabia and how the United States could respond, calling for America to “restore deterrence” of Iran’s attacks in the region.
Senior lawmakers with access to classified information about the attack said they feel confident it was carried out by Iran. Pence told lawmakers Trump is weighing the options about what to do next.
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Pence said Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is traveling to Saudi Arabia, and lawmakers in both parties would receive a classified, bipartisan briefing this week about the strike, which has wiped out 6% of the world’s oil production but so far spared the U.S. any significant economic impact.
“They are still putting together the classified information,” Sen. John Kennedy, R-Louisiana, said after the meeting. “The most salient point, among many, that the vice president and others made is, we are going to respond appropriately and do what’s in the best interest of America, and it has nothing to do with any economic pressure brought on in the rise of the price of oil, because thanks to our private sector, America is pretty much energy independent.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said Pence told lawmakers “the goal is to restore deterrence” that was lost when Iran viewed the President Trump’s restrained response to a recent drone shooting as “weakness.”
Iran shot down a U.S. surveillance drone in June over the Strait of Hormuz. Trump called off a military attack planned in response.
Graham said the U.S. cannot continue to rely on sanctions against Iran, which have not stopped the Islamic state from advancing its nuclear program and acting aggressively against allies in the region. In addition to shooting down a U.S. drone, Iran has hijacked oil tankers.
“I think to restore deterrence, you’ve got to do something different than what we’ve done in the past,” Graham said.
Graham called for “a regional response that hits Iran in a fashion that they would not move forward in the future.” Iran has denied involvement in the strike, but Graham said he believes the Saudi oil field attacks could not have been carried out “without the Ayatollah’s blessing.”
Democrats have warned they oppose Trump taking military action against Iran, and some lawmakers told the Washington Examiner any major action against the country should be cleared first by Congress.
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, said it would be “an epic, colossal mistake” for the U.S. to attack Iran in defense of Saudi Arabia, which has purchased hundreds of millions of dollars in U.S. military aid.
“We would be in the middle of a regional military conflict of potentially epic scale,” Murphy said. “And I do not want to find out what kind of wartime president Donald Trump is.”
Democrats blame Trump for aggravating Iran by withdrawing from the nuclear deal secured by the Obama administration, which was largely condemned by the GOP.
“Diplomacy is where we need to be, and the president has made that more difficult,” said Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Maryland, a senior member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
