Representative defends strikes on Iranian targets as response to an "imminent threat"

A Representative defended President Trump's strikes on Iranian-linked targets, saying the actions were necessary to stop an "imminent threat" to U.S. forces, allies and commercial shipping.

The Representative framed the operations in emotional and personal terms, saying imagery from military funerals "literally... brings you to tears" and noting families who will grieve. The speaker repeatedly blamed Iran and Iran-linked proxies for U.S. service-member deaths and said those losses justified the recent actions.

"There's an estimate that 1 in 6 service members that were killed from, you know, roughly 2003 to 1314, that window, [were] killed by the hand of Iran," the Representative said, adding that the deaths are part of a pattern of attacks that included strikes on U.S. bases in Syria and Iraq, merchant-vessel attacks and the loss of a fighter jet off a carrier in the Red Sea.

The lawmaker pointed to prior congressional votes as evidence of a recognized threat, saying "almost every member of Congress has voted to say that Iran is the largest state sponsor of terror" and that the Iran Revolutionary Guard was designated a terrorist organization. The Representative used those votes to argue for a firm response rather than continued negotiation.

On legal authority, the Representative said, "President Trump had the authority to conduct this very limited operation under article 2 and the War Powers Resolution Act," presenting Article II powers and the War Powers Resolution as the constitutional and statutory bases for the strikes.

Describing the scope of the operation, the Representative said the aim was to destroy Iranian military hardware "that has been used to reach out and touch the United States of America, our forces in the region, and our allies," and to prevent future attacks. The speaker contrasted this approach with earlier policy, asserting negotiative limits and alleging that prior agreements had included cash transfers to Iran.

The Representative referenced the 2020 killing of Qasem Soleimani as a prior, consequential action and said the recent operations represented avenging those earlier losses: "for the first time in my lifetime, except for the killing of Qasem Soleimani, the deaths of all my brothers and sisters in arms... are finally being avenged." The transcript records no formal motion, vote or committee action on the strikes.