Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said the Trump administration has failed to properly explain the Iran war to the American public, calling on the secretary of state, defense secretary, CIA director and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make the case directly rather than leaving it to President Trump alone.
“We all need to do a better job messaging,” Kennedy told Margaret Brennan, according to the official CBS News transcript of his July 26 appearance on Face the Nation. “I may end up with a sombrero on my head by saying this, but we all know the president. He exists loudly. He grows anxious when he has an unexpressed thought. He’s not always disciplined in his messaging. I’m not saying he should stop talking. He’s the president and I’m not. But I would put Rubio and Caine and Ratcliffe and Hegseth out there, either in a speech or in a long press conference, to explain what’s going on in Iran. Why we went in. Why we’re still there.”
Kennedy named Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as the officials he believes should step forward. All four have made public statements on the war individually in recent months, but Kennedy’s comments suggested he wants a more coordinated, sustained public explanation rather than piecemeal remarks.
Brennan connected Kennedy’s call for better messaging to public opinion on the war. “It’s interesting because 67 percent of Americans want the war to end now,” Brennan said, citing a CBS News/YouGov poll. Kennedy did not dispute the number. “I’ve seen the poll,” Kennedy said. “It looks about right. I support the president in Iran.”
Kennedy’s comments came days after he questioned Hegseth directly during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the administration’s $67 billion supplemental funding request for the war, telling Brennan he had pressed Gen. Caine on why the U.S. could not simply end the naval blockade and bring troops home without receiving a clear answer. “Because I wanted to know the answer,” Kennedy said of why he asked.
Kennedy said he remains supportive of continuing the war’s economic pressure campaign even without a clearer public explanation from the administration. “I think we ought to tighten the sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil,” Kennedy said. “I think we ought to continue the blockade and starve them out. I think we ought to bomb Pickaxe Mountain and try to reach what’s underneath it.” He added that he did not have enough information to say whether the daily strikes should continue, noting that “the president likes the daily attacks” and “believes that sometimes you have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys.”
Kennedy contrasted his position with Democrats who want the war ended immediately, specifically criticizing Sen. Bernie Sanders. “I listened to Bernie,” Kennedy said. “Bernie wants to just come home. He wants to turn out the lights, make sure the cat’s inside, and go to bed. That would be a huge, huge mistake.”
Rubio has addressed the war’s status directly in his own public remarks, telling reporters that Iran had violated the terms of the interim agreement reached in June and that “the United States always remains open to a diplomatic solution.” Hegseth has faced repeated questioning from lawmakers in both parties over statements he made earlier in the war describing Iran’s military as “destroyed” and “combat ineffective,” without directly retracting those characterizations when pressed.
Kennedy said he is scheduled to have breakfast with Gen. Caine the following Wednesday, which he said would give him the classified briefing he has sought on the war’s progress and the administration’s underlying strategy.
Ratcliffe, who leads the CIA, served previously as director of national intelligence during Trump’s first term and is the first person to hold both the CIA and DNI posts, according to the CIA’s official record of his swearing-in.
Kennedy has generally supported the administration’s Iran policy throughout the nearly five-month war while periodically pressing officials for more information, a position distinct from fellow Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has said a fuller national debate over the war’s objectives is overdue.
Neither the White House, Rubio, Hegseth, Caine nor Ratcliffe has publicly responded to Kennedy’s call for a joint address on the war.