Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said he is worried that the U.S. may deploy soldiers in Iran amid its ongoing bombing campaign against the country.
The U.S. and Israel began striking targets across Iran on Saturday. Dozens of high-ranking officials were killed, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Hundreds of civilians have also died in the bombings, one of which hit a school in southern Iran, killing more than 165 people, most of them young girls. Six U.S. service members in Kuwait were killed in an Iranian retaliatory strike.
President Donald Trump has said the campaign could last a month or longer.
On Tuesday, senators attended a closed-door briefing with Trump administration officials, who apparently did nothing to ease Democratic senators’ concerns.
Addressing reporters on Capitol Hill after the briefing, Blumenthal said he believes the deployment of soldiers to Iran is a real possibility:
I just want to say that I am more fearful than ever after this briefing that we may be putting boots on the ground and that troops from the United States may be necessary to accomplish objectives that the administration seems to have.
But I also have no more clear on what the priorities are going to be of the administration going forward, whether it is destroying the nuclear capacity of Iran or simply the missiles or regime change or stopping terrorist activities. And I think the administration owes it to the American people to have briefings not just for members of Congress, but for the American public. Nothing here should have been classified. It should be available to the American people.
CNN’s Manu Raju then asked the senator about a claim by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who said Iran was planning to attack imminently before the U.S. and Israel started bombing the country.
“Is that the way they described it in here?” Raju inquired.
“I will give you my impression, which is that there is still no evidence, none, of an imminent threat that would justify an attack on Iran,” Blumenthal responded. “No imminent threat to the United States has been set forth to me, but more important, the American people.”
Watch above via C-SPAN.
The post ‘We May Be Putting Boots on the Ground’: Senator Alarmed by Iran Briefing With Trump Officials first appeared on Mediaite.