ORLANDO, Florida — Sen. Tom Cotton lauded President Biden for ordering airstrikes against military installations belonging to Iranian proxies in Syria, but the Arkansas Republican is reserving final judgment pending a review of the targets.
Some Republicans allied with former President Donald Trump were critical, accusing Biden of fomenting “endless war” in the Middle East. But Cotton, also aligned with Trump, was conditionally supportive.
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Constraining Iran and the terrorist groups it backs, through military action if necessary, is imperative for U.S. national security, Cotton said. However, he wants to know if the targets struck were substantial, versus symbolic, before giving the operation a complete endorsement.
“My position on confronting Iran and retaliating when they attack Americans has been consistent through the presidencies of Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and now Joe Biden. Iran-controlled militias have repeatedly launched rocket attacks against American positions in Iraq over the last few weeks, and it was vital that we retaliate,” Cotton said Friday in an interview after speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
“It’s to be determined or not whether these strikes were actually a show of strength, which is what we needed, or a feckless attack that was disguised as a show of strength,” Cotton, an Army combat veteran and a traditional GOP hawk on national security matters, said. “It’s too early to know without a damage assessment, but anytime Iran attacks Americans, there has to be a price to pay.”
Under Trump, the United States pulled out of the Iran deal, an accord negotiated in concert with Russia and America’s allies in Europe that was designed to limit Tehran’s nuclear weapons capabilities. The 45th president concluded that the terrorist regime was not abiding by the terms of the accord.
With Biden relieving diplomatic pressure on Iran in an effort to have the U.S. rejoin the nuclear deal, Cotton, a longtime critic of the accord, said it was particularly crucial that make clear to send a message to Tehran that its malign activities will not be tolerated. But some of the prominent Republicans who identify as the heirs to Trump’s nationalist foreign policy were dismissive.
Even as they accuse Biden of kowtowing to Tehran with his support for the Iran deal, these Republicans said the president’s airstrike against the regime’s terrorist allies in Syria amounted to warmongering with no benefit to America’s national security.
“Yesterday, Joe Biden jumped right back into the Syrian Civil War started by Barack Obama. Republicans should oppose the DC Swamp / Deep State’s blood thirsty desire for endless wars,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican, said in a statement. “Joe Biden has supported sending Americans to die in wars for 50 years, including the never-ending Iraq War. We need leaders who put America First!”
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“It only took Joe Biden 36 days to bomb a country in the Middle East,” added Rep. Lauren Boebert, a Colorado Republican. “Sadly, given his record, this won’t be his last. I miss the Trump Peace Era already.”
In the spring of 2018, Trump ordered military airstrikes on Syria after the regime of dictator Bashar Assad used chemical weapons on his own citizens amid the country’s civil war. Trump was scheduled to speak at CPAC on Sunday.
