Top Senate Republican Asked If He’s ‘Comfortable’ With Trump’s Threats Against Civilian Targets

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) shrugged off a question on Tuesday about whether or not he was uncomfortable with President Donald Trump threatening to wipe out Iran’s power plants and bridges, with Thune saying the president is merely talking tough in order to open the Strait of Hormuz.

Thune was asked about the president’s grim warning while speaking to reporters in Washington, D.C.

“President Trump has repeatedly threatened civilian infrastructure. Last week, he said that if his demands weren’t met a ‘whole civilization’ would die,'” a reporter asked. “Are those kind of threats from the president something you’re comfortable with?”

I think you gotta again look at what the president is doing, and right now he’s trying to open up the Strait of Hormuz — which I think we are all supportive of,” Thune said. “And the efforts that are being made there to further isolate the Iranian regime and their economy, which is an energy-dependent economy.

Thune continued, “Hopefully, it’ll have the desired effect and we’ll get the Strait open again. And that’s sort of their last resort.”

He then applauded the U.S. military for how its pummeling of Iran since the start of Operation Epic Fury.

“The military effort here has been extraordinarily successful. This is the sort of last, dying asp of this regime, is to try to shut down the Strait. And the administration is making an effort to ensure that it’s open, that there could be traffic in and out of there, and hopefully that will be successful and we can begin to see this thing wind down.”

His answer comes a week after Trump made his “whole civilization” threat to Iran unless its theocratic leaders agreed to a deal by 8:00 p.m. on April 7 — which he dubbed “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day.” Trump announced the two sides reached a deal on a two-week ceasefire about 90 minutes before his planned attack.

Since then, Vice President JD Vance has traveled to Pakistan to meet with Iranian leaders for a marathon negotiating session that last 21 hours. Vance shared the “bad news” with reporters afterwards that the two sides could not reach an agreement to end the war; the vice president said the U.S. was seeking an “affirmative commitment” from Iran that it would not pursue a nuclear weapon, but the country’s leaders were not willing to do so.

Trump followed that up by announcing his naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, which went into effect at 10:00 a.m. on Monday.

Watch above via Fox News.

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