Sen. John Kennedy of Louisiana said President Trump enjoys the daily airstrikes on Iran and believes the campaign of pressure will eventually force Iranian leaders to back down, even as Kennedy said he doubts that strategy will work given who he believes is running Tehran.
“The president likes the daily attacks,” Kennedy told Margaret Brennan during his July 26 appearance on Face the Nation. “He believes that sometimes you have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys. I don’t think that’s going to work with the Iranian leadership. These people are more than mildly insane. It’s like dealing with Son of Sam or Charles Manson. But I don’t think we ought to just cut and run.”
Kennedy laid out his own preferred approach to the war, which has entered its fifth month. “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. I don’t have enough information to know about continuing the attacks. If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course, at least for a few more months. I also don’t think we need to send in troops. That’s my opinion, for what it’s worth.”
Brennan noted that during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing earlier in the week, Kennedy had pressed Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine on whether the U.S. could simply end the naval blockade and bring troops home, without receiving a clear answer on the potential consequences. Kennedy said the question reflected genuine uncertainty rather than a position. “Because I wanted to know the answer,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy argued the administration’s messaging on the war, not necessarily its strategy, was the bigger problem. “We all need to do a better job messaging,” Kennedy said. “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 contrasted his position with Democrats who favor ending the war outright, singling out Sen. Bernie Sanders, who also appeared on the program. “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.”
Brennan cited CBS News polling showing 67 percent of Americans want the war to end now, a figure consistent with a CBS News/YouGov poll conducted July 22-24 showing declining public support for the conflict as gas prices have climbed since the collapse of a ceasefire earlier this month.
Kennedy also addressed the newly signed U.S.-Saudi civil nuclear cooperation agreement, which must go before Congress for review. “No. Maybe someday, but not right now,” Kennedy said when asked if he was comfortable with the deal. “We’re bombing a country to keep them from getting a nuclear weapon, but we’re signing a deal with another country that the world perceives as possibly someday leading to a nuclear weapon. The world’s on a hair trigger.” Kennedy said he did not believe the deal would move forward regardless, since Trump has conditioned it on Saudi Arabia recognizing Israel. “They’re not going to do that,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy separately said he is scheduled to have breakfast with Gen. Caine the following Wednesday, which he said would give him a chance to review classified details he has requested about the war’s progress.
Kennedy, who is up for reelection in 2026, has generally supported the administration’s Iran policy throughout the war while occasionally pressing officials for more information, a posture distinct from the more openly skeptical stance taken by fellow Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, who has said a fuller national debate about the war’s objectives is overdue.
Asked about a bipartisan bill favored by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham imposing financial restrictions on major buyers of Russian oil, which has 62 Senate cosponsors, Kennedy said he wants it expanded to include Iran and brought to a vote before the Senate’s summer recess, along with a House-passed budget resolution and a cryptocurrency market structure bill. “I love John Thune,” Kennedy said of the Senate majority leader, “but I think he’s just being too cautious.”
Neither the White House nor Trump has issued a public response to Kennedy’s remarks.