WASHINGTON, May 23, 2026 — Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., delivered a three-word rebuke to former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Saturday after he publicly blasted the emerging Iran nuclear framework as “not remotely America First” — becoming one of the most pointed congressional voices defending President Donald Trump’s diplomatic push.
“Sit down bud,” Luna wrote on X, responding directly to Pompeo’s post criticizing the deal.
What Pompeo Said
Pompeo — who served as Trump’s CIA Director and Secretary of State during the first term — compared the emerging Iran framework to agreements negotiated by Obama-era officials widely despised by the MAGA base. “The deal being floated with Iran seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook: Pay the IRGC to build a WMD program and terrorize the world,” Pompeo wrote on X. “Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region. Overdue. Let’s go.”
Pompeo was not alone. GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham and Roger Wicker also blasted reports of a 60-day ceasefire deal with Iran, warning it fell short of what was needed to address Tehran’s nuclear program. But Luna — a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and an Air Force veteran — sided firmly with the White House over the hawks.
Luna’s Stakes in the Deal
Luna’s dismissal of Pompeo was consistent with a position she has staked out publicly throughout the Iran conflict. Earlier this month, she said she would give Trump an A+ on his Iran policy if he delivered on two specific promises: total denuclearization and securing maritime corridors through the Strait of Hormuz. “Complete denuclearization and addressing the strategic water passage in the Strait of Hormuz are key factors,” Luna said.
The emerging framework appears to move in exactly that direction. According to CBS News, U.S. officials believe Iran’s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei has approved the broad template for a deal in which Iran would agree in principle to dispose of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium — including approximately 970 pounds enriched to 60 percent, close to weapons-grade — in exchange for the U.S. lifting its naval blockade of Iranian ports. The Strait of Hormuz would reopen as part of the agreement.
Luna also introduced H.R. 8795, a fuel tax holiday bill, on May 13 — a direct response to the gas price spike driven by the Iran war’s disruption of global oil markets. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has affected approximately 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, pushing fuel costs higher for American consumers heading into the Memorial Day weekend. A deal that reopens the waterway would directly address that pressure.
Luna’s Military Background
Luna, the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress from Florida, served in the United States Air Force from 2009 to 2014 as an airfield management specialist in the Oregon Air National Guard, earning the Air Force Achievement Medal. Her military background has informed her approach to the Iran conflict — she has consistently supported Trump’s military posture against Tehran while backing a diplomatic resolution that achieves verifiable denuclearization rather than an open-ended military campaign.
In March 2026, Luna defended Trump’s airstrikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, telling critics that “targeting strategic military sites and invasions are two totally different things.” She chairs the House Oversight Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — giving her both institutional standing and personal experience to weigh in on national security matters.
A Growing MAGA-vs-Hawks Divide
Luna’s “sit down bud” and White House Communications Director Steven Cheung’s profanity-laced attack on Pompeo — telling him to “shut his stupid mouth and leave the real work to the professionals” — reflect a sharp divide opening inside the Republican Party over the Iran deal.
On one side are Trump loyalists who see the framework as a historic diplomatic achievement — a deal that accomplishes what the Obama administration could not by requiring Iran to dispose of its entire enriched uranium stockpile rather than merely capping enrichment. On the other are Republican hawks including Pompeo, Graham, and Wicker who argue the deal fails to permanently dismantle Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and rewards Tehran with sanctions relief and a lifted blockade without sufficient guarantees.
House Speaker Mike Johnson landed firmly in the loyalist camp, writing on X that “President Trump is the ONLY one who could have gotten Iran — the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism — to the negotiating table.” Luna, with three words, made the same argument more succinctly.