As President Trump prepares to announce his reelection campaign with a massive rally in Orlando, Florida some of his closest allies in the Republican Party are divided over how to respond to Iranian aggression in the vital sea arteries of the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz where as much one fifth of the world’s oil must pass under the guns of the Islamic Republic.
Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) said on Sunday that he supports a military strike against Iran in the wake of attacks against commercial oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week.
Newsweek's Benjamin Fearnow reports Cotton, a Senate Armed Services Committee member and a U.S. Army veteran of the Iraq war, said "unprovoked attacks" like the recent incidents against vessels near the Strait of Oman are enough to warrant military action against the Islamic Republic of Iran. U.S. and U.K. naval forces assisted in helping the oil tanker crewmen after the attack – intelligence agencies from both countries have blamed on Iran.
"These unprovoked attacks on commercial shipping warrant a retaliatory military strike," Cotton told CBS News' Margaret Brennan on Face The Nation Sunday.
Mr. Fearnow reports the Arkansas senator acknowledged having "long been defined as a hawk on Iran" but compared his justification for military force to action taken by former President Ronald Reagan to defend oil tankers in the Gulf during the 1980s. The Arkansas senator acknowledged having "long been defined as a hawk on Iran" but compared his justification for military force to action taken by former President Ronald Reagan to defend oil tankers in the Gulf during the 1980s.
"We can make a military response in a time and a manner of our choosing," Cotton said during his Face The Nation segment. "Unprovoked attacks on commercial shipping warrant a retaliatory military strike against the Islamic Republic of Iran," he reiterated according to Mr. Fearnow’s reporting.
"The fastest way to get the fire and the fury of the U.S. military unleashed on you is to interfere with the freedom of navigation on the open seas and in the air," Cotton continued. "That's exactly what Iran is doing."
However, as strongly as Senator Cotton made the case for strikes against Iran, MAGA All Star Rep. Matt Gaetz (FL-1) has come out in the opposite side – strongly against retaliation at this time.
In a tweet posted Sunday, Rep. Gaetz wrote, “Japanese and Norwegian vessels were attacked. If these nations aren’t calling for war, neither should the U.S. We can’t afford another #ForeverWar”
Rep. Gaetz wrote that President Donald Trump’s “America First” foreign policy means that the country must protect its borders from illegal immigration and cartel violence before it attacks foreign nations.
As Breitbart’s Sean Moran noted, President Donald Trump garnered much support for his America First foreign policy, contending that America should focus less on intervention and nation-building abroad and more on rebuilding the nation at home.
Gaetz charged, “‘America First’ means protecting our border from the ‘Gulf Cartel’ before avenging foreign vessels in the Gulf of Oman.”
Congressman Gaetz’s opposition to picking a fight with Iran is of a piece with the principles he set forth in an impassioned speech he delivered in May outlining his non-interventionist America First policy, in which he charged that because neoconservatives and the “War Lobby” never received their intervention in Syria, they have turned their gaze towards Iran.
As Mr. Moran reported:
Luckily, the War Lobby never got its desired intervention in Syria, largely thanks to Donald Trump— the ONLY major presidential candidate who spoke against the idea. The so-called “experts” behind our failed foreign policy have not learned from their mistakes because they have never been held accountable for them. And so today the saber-rattling persists, and is directed toward Venezuela, Yemen, and, most disturbingly, Iran.
Rep. Gaetz also blasted the neoconservative experts who believe that America has a “moral obligation” to intervene abroad.
“Real morality and real toughness is standing up to the pro-war special interests and globalist power brokers. Real morality is affirming forever that the blood of American troops is not for sale,” Gaetz said according to Mr. Moran’s reporting.
“As policymakers, it is our task to fight harder in Washington to understand the deep consequences of US military force both at home and around the world. President Trump is staying true to the instincts he expressed while campaigning as an America First, anti-interventionist Republican,” the Florida conservative added.
With principled conservatives, such as Senator Tom Cotton and Rep. Matt Gaetz, divided over what the proper response to Iranian aggression in the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz should be – or even if any response is required – we’d like to hear what CHQ readers and friends have to say. Please use the comments section below to tell us what you think.
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