A chorus of Republicans and right-wing commentators have made the rounds in recent days — specifically on Fox News — to suggest the United States should directly attack Iran as it fights Israel.
“Be all in, President Trump, in helping Israel eliminate the nuclear threat,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said in a Fox News interview Tuesday. “If we need to provide bombs to Israel, provide bombs.”
“You would want your country to defeat this clear and present danger. You would like to remove that cancer, that evil that exists in the world,” Fox News host Sean Hannity said on his show Friday. “Everything has risk. However, the president is correct … the greater risk would be to do nothing.”
President Donald Trump is weighing whether to join Israel and take military action against Iran for its alleged nuclear capabilities. Trump demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and said “nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
One option that the U.S. is reportedly considering is a precision strike on Iran nuclear facilities — something several conservative commentators and at least one senator have endorsed:
“They can either peacefully give up their nuclear program. Or, it looks to me, like it’s going to be bombed to smithereens,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) told reporters Tuesday.
“I think he wants to get in, get out, and let Israel finish the job,” Caroline Downey, a writer for the National Review, said on Maria Bartiromo’s Fox News show Wednesday.
For his part, Trump on Tuesday said he was not interested in a ceasefire for Iran, calling instead for a permanent “end,” although it was not clear what he meant by that.
