Fetterman on Iranian strikes: ‘It really demonstrates how it’s astonishing we are not standing firmly with Israel’
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) said that Iran's aerial assault on Israel shows how the U.S. is "not standing firmly with Israel."
Fetterman reiterated on Sunday's "State of the Union" on CNN that there should not be conditions on sending additional aid to Israel and called again for the U.S. to stand with its ally in the wake of Iran's missile and drone attack on Israel over the weekend.
"Well, a couple of things, actually. I think it really demonstrates how it's astonishing that we are not standing firmly with Israel. And there should never be any kinds of conditions on all that. When a nation can launch hundreds of drones towards Israel — I'm not going to be talking about conditions ever," he said.
The U.S. aided Israel in thwarting an aerial assault of more than 300 missiles and drones from Iran overnight. Top Israeli cabinet officials are meeting Sunday to discuss how Israel will respond, but the U.S. has maintained that it is "not seeking" a wider war in the region.
Fetterman suggested Sunday that Iran's goal was to make a statement after an alleged Israeli strike earlier this month killed members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on an Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria.
"And second, I think that also was Iran had to have some fireworks after Israel smoked that Iranian general —and I am here for that. And I think it's just a matter of theater part of it as well too. And finally, it demonstrates how unstable things are and why we need to lean in and stand with Israel," Fetterman told CNN's Jake Tapper.
He also did not say what Israel should or should not do in response to the attack.
"Well, I'm not going to suggest what Israel should or shouldn't do on that. But I also do think that Iran is pleased with they have enough of money on the table with all of his proxies all around in the region as well, too," he said.
"And Iran certainly can't take on Israel, and certainly not us. So I think they would just like to keep things as they go. And then after they made a point, I think they could go pretty quiet and go back to just using their proxies," he added.