President Donald Trump is not interested in starting a war with Iran, but he "had to respond" to the threat of an "imminent" attack that would have been led by Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and Iran's response was expected and anticipated, Rep. Michael McCaul said Wednesday.
"Fifteen ballistic missiles, it's a very bold response," the Texas Republican told Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "I do find it interesting that they were so off-target. There were no casualties in this response."
McCaul said he was briefed after the Soleimani attack and couldn't get into the classified nature of the intelligence. But he said that based on the evidence he has heard from key officials, including national security adviser Robert O'Brien, Trump would have been "culpably negligent" if he did not act.
Meanwhile, McCaul said he thinks Iran's regime is "playing it both ways" concerning Tuesday's strike.
"They want to sort of appease their base in the country, to show that they took action, while at the same time not fire with great casualties," said McCaul. "In a way, that is how the Iranians play ball. It's a little bit of speculation, but there was some advance notice, we know that. And the fact that they gave advance notice, that there are no casualties, but the propaganda inside Iran is huge that there were a lot of casualties. They are trying to galvanize the people behind them. The majority of Iranians don't support the ayatollah."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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