President Trump’s closed-door meeting about his long-term plan in Iran and overall justification for the war has been blasted as “incoherent” by a senator who attended.
Chris Murphy, a Democrat representing Connecticut, unloaded on the White House in a troubling X thread after the secret briefing on “Operation Epic Fury.”
He said the briefing was closed, like all of them, “because Trump can’t defend this war in public.”
“I obviously can’t disclose classified info, but you deserve to know how incoherent and incomplete these war plans are,” he said.
Several of the White House’s stated reasons for the war didn’t even come up, Murphy said, with not a single mention of plans to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. “This is, uh...surprising...since Trump says over and over this is a key goal,” he said.
The Trump administration also now claims that regime change is not the goal of the operation, despite the president initially framing it that way for the public.
Murphy suggested that if the goal is not to ensure a transition of power, the U.S. will just face more issues further down the line. He said: “So, they are going to spend hundreds of billions of your taxpayer dollars, get a whole bunch of Americans killed, and a hardline regime - probably a MORE anti-American hardline regime - will still be in charge.”
He said there didn’t seem to be a clear goal apart from “destroying lots of missiles and boats and drone factories.”
“But the question that stumped them: what happens when you stop bombing and they restart production? They hinted at more bombing. Which is, of course, endless war,” he said.
Trump officials have sought to differentiate the Iran conflict from earlier “forever wars” that the president had campaigned against, repeatedly declaring that it’s “not Iraq” and not an “endless war,” without providing a clear explanation for what it is.
Despite concerns about a protracted conflict, Trump said last week that there was a “virtually unlimited supply” of U.S. munitions, meaning “wars can be fought forever.”
Murphy warned that the administration also has “NO PLAN” regarding the Strait of Hormuz, the channel that connects the oil-rich Gulf nations to the rest of the world. The war has already sent the cost of oil spiraling, a key concern for Trump as the midterms approach.
Murphy added: “I can’t go into more detail about how Iran gums up the Strait, but suffice it say, right now, they don’t know how to get it safely back open. Which is unforgiveable, because this part of the disaster was 100% foreseeable.”
Three vessels were reported to have been hit by unknown projectiles near the strait on Wednesday morning, the UK’s maritime agency said. The U.S. military also claims it has “eliminated” 16 Iranian mine-laying ships in the strait.
The conflict has severely restricted the flow of energy materials around the world.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
