Donald Trump is being pelted with criticism as he boasts that he’s very near a deal with Iran that would open the oil-critical Strait of Hormuz.
That’s infuriating MAGA warmongers.
“Finish the job,” barked Mississippi Republican Senator Roger Wicker, who urged Trump to stop talking and keep military pressure on Iran for an all-out victory.
“We are at a moment that will define President Trump’s legacy,” Wicker underscored in a statement on X. “His instincts have been to finish the job he started in Iran, but he is being ill-advised to pursue a deal that would not be worth the paper it is written on.”
He “needs to allow America’s skilled armed forces to finish the destruction of Iran’s conventional military capabilities and reopen the strait,” Wicker added. “Further pursuit of an agreement with Iran’s Islamist regime risks a perception of weakness. We must finish what we started. It is past time for action.”
Wicker’s stinging criticism represents a powerful faction within a growing fissure amid Trump’s MAGA supporters. Now the president is getting heat from both sides. Hawk loyalists are demanding the president take a hard line, while other MAGA followers are furious Trump launched the war to begin with after vowing in his campaign to keep the U.S. out of foreign entanglements.
South Carolina GOP Senator Lindsey Graham stood staunchly with Wicker, emphasizing that even negotiation makes Iran look powerful.
“This combination of Iran being perceived as having the ability to terrorize the Strait in perpetuity and the ability to inflict massive damage to Gulf oil infrastructure is a major shift of the balance of power in the region, and over time will be a nightmare for Israel,” Graham posted on X Saturday.
It’s “important to get this right,” he added.
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s CIA director then secretary of state in his first administration, snapped on X: “Not remotely America First. It’s straightforward: Open the damned strait. Deny Iran access to money. Take out enough Iranian capability so it cannot threaten our allies in the region. Overdue. Let’s go.”
Conservative political commentator Tomi Lahren, speaking on Fox News Saturday, dismissed simply keeping the Strait of Hormuz open in any negotiation.
“You have to get the enriched uranium, you have to get a deal that includes removing that aspect of the nuclear ambitions,” she said. “Otherwise, I don’t know if you can walk away and say we have a win; it feels like we’re back to square one.”
Commentator Mark Levin insisted that Israel is rattled by the Trump administration negotiations and sees the potential deal as “highly problematic.”
To add to the fog of war and politics, it’s unclear exactly what is happening between the Trump administration and Iran. While Trump has preened that a deal with Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz is “largely negotiated,” Iran’s state-affiliated Fars news agency has reported that the Strait of Hormuz will remain under Iranian control.
