On Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said President Donald Trump did not seem to have an overall plan in Iran.
Kelly said, “It’s a good thing that the Supreme Leader is gone, and some of the folks around him and I have to give a shout out to the young men and women of the U.S. military who, you know, by their skill and, you know, focus on the mission and determination and patriotism, were able to conduct this operation. So that part is a good thing. But what I also heard from Lindsey, and we saw in the president’s tweet earlier today, is they’re talking about hope. You know, the president said hopefully, Lindsey a number of times said, we hope. Hope is not a strategy. We’ve got to have a plan here. I mean, what is the strategic goal? And how do we achieve it? And my job here in the United States Senate is to make sure that this administration, you know, has a plan and doesn’t put America, and especially U.S. service members, at further risk.”
He continued, “What is this about? I mean, the president said, the Iranian nuclear capability was obliterated last summer. And so, is this about that or is it about ballistic missiles? Lindsey talked about ballistic missiles being able to range the United States, you know, reach the continental United States. They don’t have that capability. Now, he was not implying that. But they’re trying to achieve it, which is true. But that’s going to take a long time. So what was the imminent threat, or is this about, you know, getting rid of the entire regime, which is really challenging? There’s not an armed opposition in Iran. My concern here, you know, going forward, is what happens now. We saw in Iraq that in 2006, Saddam Hussein was finally killed. And then over more than a decade, we lost 1500 Americans. I don’t want to see a wide conflict in the Middle East.”
Kelly added, “I think this administration, my sense is that they did not go into this with any kind of strategic plan. It was an operation with no discussion about what comes next.”
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