GOP hawks urge Trump to go big as he weighs ‘massive attack’ on Iran

Republican defense hawks are urging President Trump to unleash major combat operations as the commander-in-chief weighs a “massive attack” on Iran. 

These signals coincide with Trump’s escalatory rhetoric against the Islamic Republic, with negotiations completely stalled and Iran-aligned Houthis in Yemen striking commercial boats in the Red Sea,  threatening to expand the conflict.

The support for expanded kinetic action comes as the price of oil hit $100 a barrel on Thursday for the first time since May and as the conflict’s popularity among the public plunges. 

Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said he spoke to the president multiple times this week on Iran and encouraged him to continue pounding the country, with negotiations appearing fruitless. 

“I’ve expressed publicly and privately my approval of finishing the job, and realizing that negotiations were getting us nowhere,” Wicker told The Hill on Thursday. “I’ve made it clear that that Iran, in my judgment, has no intention of negotiating in good faith or keeping a promise and that it’s pointless to pretend that they are trustworthy negotiating party.

“I believe we can keep the Strait open on our terms, and that’s the key to a successful conclusion of hostilities,” he said of the Strait of Hormuz. 

Trump has said he is weighing resumption of major combat operations against Iran but has not made a final call or set a deadline for it. 

“I am considering a massive attack. Bigger than ever before. I am close to making a decision. We are all set for it,” the president said in a Thursday interview with Axios. 

The U.S. military has carried out airstrikes against Iran for 13 days in a row as of Thursday. U.S. forces have targeted the country’s maritime capabilities, missile and drone storage facilities, coastal surveillance sites, air defense assets, aircraft hangars, military logistics infrastructure, command centers, communications networks and other assets, according to the U.S. Central Command (Centcom), which oversees the U.S. forces operations in the Middle East. 

Centcom declined to disclose to The Hill how many targets the U.S. military has hit in the last 12 days. 

Iran has retaliated by firing ballistic and cruise missiles, along with one-way attack drones, at U.S. allies in the Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps said it fired at Kuwait and Jordan overnight, including at a communications tower. 

The Kuwaiti military said Thursday its air defense systems were working on shooting down Iranian drones and........

© The Hill