Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA), who served in the U.S. military for 23 years, including as a company commander in Kuwait and Iraq, slammed President Biden for his weakness in defending U.S. troops from repeated attacks by Iran’s proxies, calling on Biden to be “more aggressive in pushing back.”
Ernst was interviewed by Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, who noted, “They’re coming after us. We’ve been attacked 75 times on our troops in the Middle East since October 17,” then asked, “How would you assess the White House’s response to this escalation coming out of Iran. It is Iran, even though it’s its proxies, Iran is pulling the strings, right?”
“Right, and there is no secret how I feel about the White House’s response to the attacks in the Middle East: I am sorely disappointed in the president and his lack of response when our troops are being targeted,” Ernst responded. “So I think we need to be much more aggressive in pushing back. We are defending our troops. It is our right; it is our responsibility, to make sure these men and women can defend themselves.”
“This was the subject of discussion out at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley this last weekend,” she continued. “I was in attendance … Leon Panetta (former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA) had some very strong words to this administration. And we do need to be more aggressive in pushing back against Iran. This will continue to escalate if we have such milquetoast response coming from this administration.”
Ernst had warned in late October that Biden was weak in dealing with threats against U.S. troops. She appeared on Fox News with host Harris Faulkner, who noted of the Israel-Hamas war that there were “real worries that the conflict could expand. … This comes as the IDF says Iran-backed Hezbollah — so that’s to the north, that border with Lebanon — that Hezbollah is now ramping up attacks from that country, Lebanon — and Israel is firing back.”
Faulkner then played a clip of Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying, “We expect that there’s a likelihood of escalation by Iranian proxies directed against our forces, directed against our personnel … we don’t want to see a second or third front develop; we don’t want to see our forces or personnel come under fire, but if that happens, we’re ready for it.”
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Faulkner followed with a clip of South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham adding there would be harsh consequences if Iran escalates the war, as he declared, “If this war grows, it’s coming to your backyard. There won’t be two fronts; there’ll be three. If there’s an effort to unleash Hezbollah on the Jewish state to destroy it, my attention will be to Tehran. If these innocent hostages get slaughtered, I hold you, Iran, accountable, because you could stop it if you chose to. The idea that this happened without Iranian involvement is laughable.”
Faulkner then turned to Ernst: “Is he right?”
“He is absolutely correct, Harris,” Ernst answered. “Iran is behind this. They fund 93% of Hamas’ activities; they fund 100% of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s activities; not to mention Hezbollah and the Houthis. This all goes right back to Iran.”
“But you know what, who else is involved in this?” she asked rhetorically. “President Biden has been so actively appeasing Iran instead of standing up to them, and I’m telling you, if we lose more Americans, we need to go after Iran. It is incredibly important that we push back against them. We need to be interdicting their oil just as our sanctions call for, we need to refreeze that $6 billion.”
“Come on, President Joe Biden; we got to do more,” she urged. “We’ve got to push back more against Iran. And Tony Blinken, I want to hear a little more fire in your belly, because we, the United States of America, are not standing strong enough when it comes to pushing back against this terrorism. It’s infiltrating all around the globe. I know that President Biden gave up on the War on Terror, but it’s not over yet.”