Hours after President Trump announced early on Saturday morning that the United States and Israel were attacking Iran, Sen. Joni Ernst appeared on Newsmax to praise Trump for launching the attack.
“God bless the president for executing this mission,” Ernst said. “Because this is not just changing for today, this is world-changing for years to come. This is a generational action that will hopefully open up a new book of peace, not only for the Middle East, but for the world as well.”
Newsmax is a rightwing cable news channel that has gained prominence since the first Trump administration among viewers who feel Fox News isn’t pro-Trump enough.
In an eight-minute pre-taped and edited video statement declaring “major combat operations” had begun, posted to the president’s Truth Social account in the early hours of Saturday morning, Trump said, “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime. A vicious group of very hard, terrible people.”
Truth Social is owned by President Trump through his Trump Media & Technology Group. The video showed Trump speaking from Mar-a-lago, his combination home and member-only country club where he spent the weekend.
In the video, the president did not give any indication how long the attack by the United States and Israel would last. The hosts of Newsmax’s Saturday Agenda suggested the attack would last for days, and asked Ernst for her opinion.
“Let us remember that Iran was given every opportunity at the negotiating table to end this peacefully,” Ernst said. “But they chose not to do that. So now we are executing Operation Epic Fury, and ‘epic fury’ it is. So yes, we will anticipate that the United States and our partners in the region will continue to engage in these strikes until Iran is no longer a threat and it has been brought to its knees.”
In a brief phone interview with the New York Times on Sunday night, the president was asked how long he expected Operation Epic Fury, the official name for the offensive, to last.
“Well, we intended four to five weeks,” he replied.
The Times reports that Trump “offered several seemingly contradictory visions of how power might be transferred to a new government — or even whether the existing Iranian power structure would run that government or be overthrown.”
According to the Times, “When pressed on his plans for a transition of power, Mr. Trump said he hoped Iran’s elite military forces — including hardened officers of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps who have held substantial influence and profited from the existing regime — would simply turn over their weapons to the Iranian populace.”
So far, neither the president nor the Pentagon have offered any evidence that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States.
“Everything I have heard from the administration before and after these strikes on Iran confirms this is a war of choice with no strategic endgame,” Rep. Jim Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut and the ranking member on the House Intelligence Committee, said on Sunday.
Himes was part of a group of eight congressional leaders briefed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Operation Epic Fury. President Trump did not seek congressional approval for the attack.
During her Newsmax appearance, Ernst was asked about a statement from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in which the Democratic leader said that Americans don’t want to be involved in another war in the Middle East. Ernst began her response by pointing out that she is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and her daughter is currently serving in the military.
“We don’t want to engage our sons and daughters when it is unnecessary, but that’s why President Trump has chosen these types of actions,” Ernst said. “He is striking from the air, he is striking from the sea, and we don’t want to see conventional forces used.”
Ernst suggested the large-scale bombing and missile attacks, along with support from “our partners” in the region, would cause Iran to capitulate quickly.
“We will all be stepping up to make sure this is a complete operation, but that it does not drag on for years and years,” the senator said.
Ernst, of course, is leaving the Senate at the end of this term, having announced in September she would not seek reelection. Rep. Ashley Hinson, the Republican frontrunner to replace Ernst, echoed the senator’s support for Trump and Operation Epic Fury in a statement she posted on social media Saturday morning.
“President Trump is taking decisive action with Operation Epic Fury to protect American interests from the tyrannical Iranian regime — a regime that chants ‘Death to America’ and has backed terror across the region,” Hinson wrote. “This operation makes clear that the United States will not sit back while Iran threatens our troops, our allies including Israel, or our homeland — and under this president, Iran will never obtain a nuclear weapon.”
The Republican from Marion concluded by saying her “prayers are with” members of the armed services and their families.
The two Democrats running for Senate also posted statements on Saturday about President Trump launching the attack on Iran.
“Congress must immediately invoke the War Powers Act to prevent our country from being dragged into another war of foreign regime change,” Zach Wahls wrote in a social media post published at 9:18 a.m. on Saturday.
“My generation grew up witnessing and experiencing the horrors of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, and we are all still living with the consequences here at home: lives lost, families shattered, and trillions of our tax dollars squandered.”
“We cannot repeat those mistakes in Iran, and I firmly stand with the overwhelming majority of Iowans and Americans in opposing the unilateral launch of a reckless war without congressional authorization and without a clear exit strategy.”
The state senator from Coralville finished his post by saying he and his wife Chloe are praying for service members.
About an hour later, Rep. Josh Turek of Council Bluffs posted his statement.
“The American people deserve transparency from their government, and the power to declare war rests with Congress,” Turek wrote. “While there is no question the Iranian regime is brutal and repressive, bombing Iran is not the same thing as bringing lasting change to the country. And an attack that could drag the U.S. into a long, costly conflict should not happen without Congressional approval.”
“Americans were promised an end to ‘forever wars’ and costly foreign entanglements. This is another example of a betrayal of that promise. Once again, Washington is failing working people by being quicker to send working class kids into combat than do anything to lower costs and make our lives easier.”
Iowa’s senior senator also made his view of the attack on Iran known on Saturday in a social media post on X. Although Grassley is often portrayed as a senator who wants Congress to assert the authority it is given in the Constitution, he did not address whether Trump should have sought Congressional authorization for the strikes in his post.
“I’m following closely what’s happening in Iran & the region Barbara + I are praying for the safety of our troops Regime change badly needed +Must stop nuclear enrichment CANT HV UNPRDICTABLE LEADERSHIP IN IRAN W NUCLEAR BOMB,” Grassley wrote in the tweeting-style he has become well-known for.
“Pres Trump gave IRAN PLENTY OF NEGOTIABLE OPPORTUNITY.”
An analysis published by Axios on Monday found that “No president in the modern era has ordered more military strikes against as many different countries as Donald Trump.”
“He’s attacked seven nations, three of which — Iran, Nigeria and Venezuela — had never been targeted by U.S. military strikes,” Axios reported. “He authorized more individual air strikes in 2025 than President Biden did in four years.”
At the end of the eight-minute video on Saturday morning, President Trump addressed the people of Iran, telling them, “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be, probably, your only chance for generations.”
In his interview with the Times on Sunday night, Trump was asked if the U.S. would defend Iranians if they try to take over their government.
“I don’t make a commitment one way or the other; it’s too early,” he replied. “We have work to do and we’ve done it very well. I’d say we’re quite ahead of schedule.”
