Republican Congressman Says Iranians Should Pay U.S. to Wage War on Them: ‘We Gotta Pay for This Somehow’

Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) concocted a novel funding mechanism for the $200 billion the White House says it is seeking to continue the war on Iran: having the Iranians pay for it.

The Department of Defense is seeking $200 billion in supplemental funds to keep prosecuting President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, which began on Feb. 28. The cost of the war is about $1 billion a day.

Perry appeared on Thursday’s edition of The Source on CNN, where Kaitlan Collins asked if he would support such an appropriation. The lawmaker responded by saying he wants to see details and that the high price tag is likely just a starting point for negotiations with Congress. He added that he wants Iran to foot the bill.

“I support the president,” he said. “I support this action. But at the same time, we’ve got to pay for this. So, how is this going to be dealt with? I would actually like to see Iran pay for this, whether it’s $20 billion or $200 billion, whatever it is. Look, they’ve been at war with us for 47 years, and it’s finally being ended by the president, which is awesome, but it comes at a cost. And they have resources. They have been siphoning those resources away from their population for those four and a half, five decades.”

Collins seemed taken aback by the idea.

“You want to see whatever this costs the U.S. taxpayer, whatever the Pentagon does come to you and asks for, to be offset by Iran?” she asked.

“Well, I think we gotta pay for this somehow, right?” Perry replied before insisting that Iran started the war. “I don’t see any reason why the people that started this war – it’s not the United States of America – it’s Iran.”

“Yeah, I understand your argument,” Collins replied. “But I don’t think anyone thinks that Iran’s actually gonna pay $200 billion to offset the cost.”

“Yeah, right now, Iran’s not gonna pay for it,” Perry clarified. “But under a different paradigm where the ayatollah’s not in charge, and we have a different system of governance.”

Watch above via CNN.

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