Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) ripped President Biden for what she described as his “milquetoast” response to attacks against U.S. forces and warships in the Middle East recently by proxies of the Iranian regime.
Ernst, who served in the U.S. military for 23 years, including as a company commander in Kuwait and Iraq, pressed Biden to be “more aggressive in pushing back.”
In an interview with Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo, the host said: “They’re coming after us. We’ve been attacked 75 times on our troops in the Middle East since October 17,” then asked, “How would you assess the White House’s response to this escalation coming out of Iran. It is Iran, even though it’s its proxies, Iran is pulling the strings, right?”
“Right, and there is no secret how I feel about the White House’s response to the attacks in the Middle East: I am sorely disappointed in the president and his lack of response when our troops are being targeted,” Ernst replied, per the Daily Wire.
“So I think we need to be much more aggressive in pushing back. We are defending our troops. It is our right, it is our responsibility, to make sure these men and women can defend themselves,” she said.
“This was the subject of discussion out at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley this last weekend,” she continued. “I was in attendance … Leon Panetta (former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA) had some very strong words to this administration.
“And we do need to be more aggressive in pushing back against Iran. This will continue to escalate if we have such a milquetoast response coming from this administration,” she said.
In late October, Ernst warned that Biden was not strong enough in dealing with threats against American forces. At the time, she appeared on Fox News with Harris Faulkner, who said the Israel-Hamas war was leading to “real worries that the conflict could expand. … This comes as the IDF says Iran-backed Hezbollah — so that’s to the north, that border with Lebanon — that Hezbollah is now ramping up attacks from that country, Lebanon — and Israel is firing back.”
After playing clips of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) who both warned that Iran would likely step up attacks in the region, Faulkner asked Ernst if she thought they were right, she responded that they were.
“Iran is behind this. They fund 93% of Hamas’ activities; they fund 100% of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s activities; not to mention Hezbollah and the Houthis. This all goes right back to Iran.”
“But you know what, who else is involved in this?” she asked rhetorically. “President Biden has been so actively appeasing Iran instead of standing up to them, and I’m telling you, if we lose more Americans, we need to go after Iran. It is incredibly important that we push back against them. We need to be interdicting their oil just as our sanctions call for, we need to refreeze that $6 billion.”
“Come on, President Joe Biden; we got to do more,” she added. “We’ve got to push back more against Iran. And Tony Blinken, I want to hear a little more fire in your belly, because we, the United States of America, are not standing strong enough when it comes to pushing back against this terrorism. It’s infiltrating all around the globe. I know that President Biden gave up on the War on Terror, but it’s not over yet.”
