Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

John Fetterman Criticizes Fellow Democrats For Not Seeing Trump Admin’s Strikes On Iran As Successful

[Screenshot/CNN]

Democratic Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman criticized other Democrats on Wednesday for not viewing President Donald Trump’s strikes against Iran as a success.

Fetterman said on “CNN News Central” that Democrats should view the strikes as “successful” since they eliminated Iran’s chances of developing a nuclear weapon and killed the Islamic regime’s leadership, including Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The senator has broken from his party to express support for the actions taken by the administration and Israel, despite the fact that most Americans initially opposed the strikes.

“They’ve also severely damaged their entire military apparatus,” Fetterman said. “And you said overall, they effectively just neutered Iran in just 100 hours. So do you think the war goals have already been met? I think I think that that, yes, it’s been very successful. And I can’t [understand why] we can’t celebrate that so far.” 

WATCH: 

Democrats have criticized Fetterman for opposing a war powers vote that could block Trump from using further military force against Iran. This includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, who said Fetterman “knows better” than to allow Trump to continue striking Iran without congressional approval. Fetterman said on X that he was “baffled” by Democrats’ opposition to the strikes since the U.S. must prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.

“So for me, why can’t we just say, ‘look, this is a good thing the way we are,'” Fetterman continued. “And now, what’s the end game? Well, the end game is for more real peace, rather than just putting out tweets and statements saying we can never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear bomb. When someone does something about that to make that happen, you know, I think we should just [be] country over party.” 

Fetterman also told reporters on Tuesday that Democrats should acknowledge that the strikes took out “one of the evil people on Earth.”

Six U.S. service members died as of Wednesday after Iranian troops launched strikes on a base housing American troops in Kuwait.

A majority of Americans, 59%, disapproved of Trump’s strikes in Iran and believe a long-term conflict is likely, according to a CNN poll conducted by SSRS on Monday. However, more recent polling suggests Americans are more evenly split on the conflict, including a Fox News poll which found that 50% of Americans approve of Trump’s actions and 50% disapprove. Another survey by OnMessage Inc. found that 49% of Americans favor the strikes and 48% are against them.

Trump told CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday that a “big wave” of strikes were forthcoming. He said that the conflict should only last a few weeks, though he clarified that the U.S. “has the capability to go far longer than that.” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said on Monday that the U.S. would take any action it deemed necessary and did not rule out putting troops on the ground.