Senator Raphael Warnock said a campaign line that there would be no new wars turned out to be one of the most egregious lies ever told by a presidential candidate. He has already told the Senate that President Donald Trump ran on that promise, and he has called the Iran war illegal.
“‘No new wars’ turned out to be one of the most egregious lies ever told by a presidential candidate,” Warnock, a Georgia Democrat, wrote Saturday. The post does not quote a speech or name a country. His office site did not carry a separate release with it.
The connection is in his own earlier remarks. In a release on his Senate site, he asked colleagues whether they would “say enough is enough to the president who ran as a candidate promising no new wars.” He said that after 109 days of what he called a failed war, and he put the American death toll at 13 service members. He said gas prices were well over $4 a gallon and that the war had cost tens of billions, if not hundreds of billions. Those figures are his. The release does not cite a Defense Department toll.
A later release said the “illegal war of choice in Iran” had continued for 137 days and that 14 service members had lost their lives. He said he voted no on the Fiscal Year 2027 National Defense Authorization Act. “I cannot vote to fund an illegal war with no justification, no set goal, and no exit strategy,” he said. “This President needs guardrails, not a blank check.” The count of the dead moved from 13 to 14 between the two releases. Neither cites a department figure.
The same floor remarks treat the war as unfinished business even after a truce. He said a temporary agreement with Iran brought the United States “back to the status quo, at best,” and that the regime was still in place with younger leadership. He said an elementary school in Minab was struck on the first day and that most of the dead there were children. That account is his. No White House release posted this weekend addresses the school or confirms the U.S. death toll.
The administration’s account of the operation is different. A March 12 release said Operation Epic Fury’s objectives were to destroy Iran’s missiles and the capacity to build more, annihilate its navy, prevent a nuclear weapon, and stop it from arming forces outside its borders. It did not call the operation a new war or address a campaign pledge. In a Sept. 30 address, Hegseth said U.S. forces had destroyed Iran’s navy, air force, air defenses, and military industry.
At the United Nations on Sept. 22, Trump said that while others had spoken of peace, he had made peace, and that while others had ignored threats, he had confronted them. A White House summary of that speech quotes him saying he will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon, and that the United States will use military power where necessary. That is a justification of force, not a denial of a campaign line.
An Aug. 28 release said the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz and that Iran has exported no oil from its shores since the blockade resumed in July. That document treats the operation as ongoing military control. It does not say the war has ended, and it does not mention a pledge of no new wars.
“Egregious lies” and “illegal war of choice” are Warnock’s. The description of Trump as a candidate who promised no new wars is also his, in a floor statement posted on his Senate site. The Epic Fury objectives, the Strait claim, and the United Nations summary are the White House’s. No department release posted this weekend answers the Saturday post or confirms the death toll he has given as 13 and then 14.