Congressional Republicans — and at least one Democrat — immediately praised President Donald Trump after he said Saturday evening that the U.S. military bombed three sites in Iran.
“Well done, President Trump,” Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina posted on X. Texas Sen. John Cornyn called it a “courageous and correct decision.” Alabama Sen. Katie Britt called the bombings “strong and surgical.”
Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin posted: “America first, always.”
The Senate Armed Services Committee chairman, Roger Wicker of Mississippi, said Trump “has made a deliberate — and correct — decision to eliminate the existential threat posed by the Iranian regime.”
Wicker posted on X that “we now have very serious choices ahead to provide security for our citizens and our allies.”
The quick endorsements of stepped up U.S. involvement in Iran came after Trump had publicly mulled the strikes for days and many congressional Republicans had cautiously said they thought he would make the right decision. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Saturday evening that “as we take action tonight to ensure a nuclear weapon remains out of reach for Iran, I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel in harm’s way.”
Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., were briefed ahead of the strikes on Saturday, according to people familiar with the situation and granted anonymity to discuss it.
Johnson said in a statement that the military operations “should serve as a clear reminder to our adversaries and allies that President Trump means what he says.”
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., said he had also been in touch with the White House and “I am grateful to the U.S. servicemembers who carried out these precise and successful strikes."
Breaking from many of his Democratic colleagues, Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, an outspoken supporter of Israel, also praised the attacks on Iran. “As I’ve long maintained, this was the correct move by @POTUS,” he posted. “Iran is the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism and cannot have nuclear capabilities.”
Both parties have seen splits in recent days over the prospect of striking Iran. Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, a Republican and a longtime opponent of U.S. involvement in foreign wars, posted on X after Trump announced the attacks that “This is not Constitutional.”
Many Democrats have maintained that Congress should have a say. The Senate was scheduled to vote as soon as this week on a resolution by Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine requiring congressional approval before the U.S. declared war on Iran or took specific military action.
Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House intelligence panel, posted on X after Trump’s announcement: “According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop.”
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
39 Comments
HopeSpringsEternal
As Trump should, Republicans never more united, as ending the Iranian nuclear weapons program was maybe #1 on Trump's 'to do list".
Yrral
US have killed more innocent people in the last decade and sent soldiers there and cut their benefits
Peter14
Trump again manipulated by a foreign power. This time it was Israel.
Now Iran will be determined to obtain nuclear weapons, and it will go further underground to do it.
I wonder if American bombs can penetrate one or two kilometers under solid rock?
Stupid conflict started by a stupid leader and now joined by an even dumber leader who thinks its game over.
Iran wont surrender, so get ready for more "peace in the middle east" Trump style.
Yrral
They destroying crack the times,it do not stop crack dealers,they do not have accountability for the Uranium Hexafluoride of Iran
u_s__reamer
The twitchy body-language of Israel's breathy American sock-puppet announcing to the nation and the world the treacherous Pearl Harbor-style attack on a sovereign country says it all (he's bought and paid and in way over his head). The cries of approval from American politicians in the peanut gallery are merely sound and fury signifying the usual nothing.
HopeSpringsEternal
Trump's been crystal clear about the growing existential threat of Iran's nuclear weapons program for many years, long before he ran for POTUS, starting in 2015.
Ditto trade/tariffs and border/illegal immigrants, but those issues, not nearly so 'grave' to civilization itself
Nobody manipulated Trump, who's a real POTUS, an Executive who's fully fit and in full control of Executive Branch and US Govt., unlike the previous POTUS!
deanzaZZR
From the United Nations Charter, Article 2 that the USA is a signatory to:
All Members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means in such a manner that international peace and security, and justice, are not endangered.
All Members shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.I will interject here that the USA still does not have official diplomatic relations with Iran decades after the fall of the USA enthroned Shah.
Yrral
Trump is manipulative by mental illness,those little voices crying out
OssanAmerica
Will these Republicans still be praising Trump's action if it ends up dragging the country into another mideast war?
Cephus
Like or not that was a very bold move which could have gone either way. And that's what leadership is all about at times making tough choices.
OssanAmerica
So Russsia should pull ut of Ukraine immediately. And China should officially declare that they will never try to take Taiwan by force.
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternal
You've got to be kidding. MAGA are divided one this issue, which Trump said he would never do.
Blacklabel
Bipartisan praise!
Underworld
HopeSpringsEternalToday
He said he would never start a war, particularly in the Middle East.
This war would never had started under Biden.
lincolnman
Of course they are - they're all the "warmongering NEOCONs" that Trump and MAGA posters here dissed, insulted, and said they wanted all thrown out for eight years - until flipping today...
This is all about Repubs being Repubs; NEOCON, MAGA, RINO, you name it...they all revel in starting Middle East wars....
Dick Cheney, Don Rumsfeld, and John Bolton are proud of you...
Blacklabel
Are we at war? Don’t think so.
we smacked them down, after asking nicely for peace for months.
Now we are demanding peace backed up by power and strength as the logical next step.
lincolnman
Think again - would we be at war if Iran attacked our nuclear plants?
And saying we'd give them two weeks for negotiations - which was an outright lie...
You sound more like Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld with every post...too bad all those posts in your archive calling them warmongering NEOCONs...
Blacklabel
irrelevant.
are we at war?
No, right?
lincolnman
Thanks for admitting you're, in your term, "flippity-floppity"....
Then you must have forgotten because I remember you using it frequently to describe McCain and John Bolton...
You've never been on my team...
A clear lie - which means no other leader will ever take him at his word...except for Putin...since his words are Trump's words...
More like Trump banned Hegseth from the conversation because of his last compromise - and his failed parade...
XCAndtheband
So, now we can again see that MAGA are hypocrites and were never really anti-war.
Just like they’re not anti-corruption, they’re not pro-free speech, and they’re not pro-worker.
bass4funk
Well done.
Blacklabel
“AP: Trump says he’ll decide whether US will directly attack Iran within 2 weeks”
…within 2 weeks.
today is….within 2 weeks.
nobody lied. You just weren’t paying attention well.
XCAndtheband
LOOOOOOL one Democrat is definitely not “bipartisan”, the way you’re framing it.
Also, John Fetterman isn’t a genuine Democrat. He wears the Democrat title, but is actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Blacklabel
Yes, exactly the type of reply I was looking for when I posted “bipartisan”.
thanks!
HopeSpringsEternal
Treat there's genuine bi-partisan support for the strategic military operation to eliminate growing existential threat to the entire world = Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program
Trump, not Left/Right, rather Common-Sense Leadership
XCAndtheband
Great! I’m glad you enjoy someone calling you out for your fabrications!
HopeSpringsEternal
Great there's genuine bi-partisan support for strategic military operation to eliminate growing existential threat to the entire world = Iranian Nuclear Weapons Program
Trump, not Left/Right, rather Common-Sense Leadership
lincolnman
So why did he say yesterday two weeks - if he planned to attack today?
Why didn't he say one week which would have been more accurate? Or, two days, which was closer to what it was?
Not that they trusted his word before, but now NO ONE will accept anything this guy says...including Xi and KJU, which means we're in a much more dangerous world...let alone ANOTHER Repub Middle East war...
deanzaZZR
No need to bring either of these cases into this discussion. But since you brought up the island of Taiwan United Nation status, put simply, it has none nor is the government in Taipei a signatory of the charter.
lincolnman
For our MAGA-friends, the giant "elephant in the room" is now the giant "hypocrite in the room"...
For years they've been raging against the NEOCONs and RINOs in their party - accusing them of being traitors to the MAGA cause and nothing but warmongers wanting endless Middle East wars...and vowing to throw them all out...
Until today - now they're all suddenly NEOCON converts...all that dissing and insulting of John McCain for saying "bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" - all forgotten and forgiven...
It's like all things in MAGA-world, it flips and flops back and forth every day...
Which just proves again it's an empty cult, devoid of any real principles or values...
Blacklabel
Because he said WITHIN 2 weeks. And who would tell someone in advance that they will attack and the exact day?
were you really in the military for four decades? Come on, man.
Cephus
"It's like all things in MAGA-world, it flips and flops back and forth every day...
Which just proves again it's an empty cult, devoid of any real principles or values..."
When MAGA is for peace the left is for war, and when MAGA is for war immediately the left is for peace. That's how deceit and hypocrisy of the left works
XCAndtheband
“Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who tried to push a resolution in Congress last week to curb Trump’s ability to join the conflict, tweeted: “This is not Constitutional.””
Bipartisan support against Trump!
Blacklabel
LOOOOOOL one Republican is definitely not “bipartisan”, the way you’re framing it.
Also, Thomas Massie isn’t a genuine Republican. He wears the Republican title, but is actually a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
too easy,
HopeSpringsEternal
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, a lone wolf, starved for attention, just a grandstander. Ditto the junior US Republican Senator from Kentucky, Rand Paul.
Something about the bluegrass state, Trump's got far more Democratic bipartisan Iran support to offset a few Thomas Massie types, as Republicans never more united, especially in wartime with a nearly assassinated POTUS
XCAndtheband
Clearly, you missed the sarcasm in my comment.
bass4funk
So he became a republican? When you got a link?
HopeSpringsEternal
POTUS dealing with true global security threats, nuclear weapons proliferation, SURE beats a POTUS creating global security threats via a for $profit proxy war against another nuclear power over irrelevant territorial matters
wallace
HopeSpringsEternal
Irrelevant to whom? The 40 million Ukrainians?