Merkley: Strikes Didn’t Change Middle East Dynamic, Just Moved Up Timeframe, Israel, Who I Wanted to Stop, Would Have Taken Out Nukes

On Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Source,” Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) said that American strikes on Iran moved up the timeframe for setting back nuclear Iran’s program, but “Israel had made it very clear that, with or without the United States, they could effectively destroy these facilities. They wouldn’t have done it with 30,000-pound bombs, but they expressed great confidence that they could do so. … I don’t think that this has changed the ultimate course of the dynamic.” And also said that he argued President Donald Trump “should use his leverage with Netanyahu to have a ceasefire.”

Merkley said that he thinks a ceasefire is good, “I spent the weekend saying the President should use his leverage with Netanyahu to have a ceasefire.”

Host Kaitlan Collins then asked, “If the ceasefire holds, does that mean you approve of President Trump’s strikes that he carried out on Saturday night?”

Merkley answered, “No, it doesn’t, because those strikes were not responding to an imminent threat. Iran had not posed an imminent threat to us. The President had not gained authorization from Congress. Israel had already said that it had set the program back two to three years. And, for all those reasons, there’s no reason to go to war without following the Constitution.”

Collins then asked, “Do you believe Iran, though, would agree to a ceasefire had the United States not conducted those strikes on Saturday night?”

Merkley responded, “I think — well, first, let’s see how this ceasefire becomes and what follows it in terms of working out sort of diplomatic structures regarding the nuclear program, regarding Iran funding proxies throughout the Middle East, and in regard to their development of ballistic missiles, because there [are] lots of unanswered questions here. But Israel had made it very clear that, with or without the United States, they could effectively destroy these facilities. They wouldn’t have done it with 30,000-pound bombs, but they expressed great confidence that they could do so. So, would it have happened on this timescale? Not likely, no. But I don’t think that this has changed the ultimate course of the dynamic.”