Republicans say Biden-ordered retribution air strikes in Iraq and Syria are NOT enough: GOP leaders demand ‘immediate’ oil sanctions and direct hits on Iranian commanders

  • The Pentagon confirmed long-range bombers and drones hit 85 targets with 145 bombs in the widespread military operation on Friday night 
  • But Republicans are expressing concern that the Biden administration hasn’t targeted Iran directly enough 

Republicans say President Biden should respond even more forcefully to extract revenge on Iran after its proxies killed three Americans in a drone attack on a base in Jordan last weekend. 

The Pentagon confirmed long-range bombers and drones hit 85 targets with 145 bombs in Iraq and Syria during the widespread military operation on Friday night.

But Republicans are expressing concern that the Biden administration hasn’t targeted Iran directly enough. 

GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez went after President Biden on a post on X just minutes after the strikes were made public saying oil sanctions must ‘immediately’ be reimposed on Iran in addition to military action. 

Rich Goldberg, who served as the Director for Countering Iranian Weapons of Mass Destruction on Trump’s National Security Council, said the U.S. should have hit Iranian commanders.

‘Notably missing targets: IRGC commanders,’ he wrote on X. 

The GOP leaders also criticized Biden’s ‘weakness’ that some say invited the deadly attack on U.S. troops. 

The U.S. has started conducting airstrikes in Syria in response to the drone strike in Jordan that killed three American soldiers, reports suggest.

GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez went after President Biden on a post on X just minutes after the strikes were made public

GOP Rep. Carlos Gimenez went after President Biden on a post on X just minutes after the strikes were made public

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia died in the drone strike of a US airbase in Jordan

Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, was among three US soldiers killed in the drone strike

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, of Carrollton, Georgia  (left) and Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, died in the drone strike of a US airbase in Jordan

‘President Biden is weak and our enemies know it. His misguided foreign policy has invited these attacks against the United States,’ continued Gimenez, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee. 

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., said the retaliatory strikes should have occurred on the ‘same day’ that troops were killed.

‘The weakness that Biden has shown towards Iran over the past 3yrs has empowered bad actors across the Middle East. Trump’s Maximum Pressure campaign WORKED. Economic sanctions will box Iran back-in.’

Rep. Mike Waltz, who also serves on the Armed Services Committee, says he wants a briefing on whether ‘targets’ were able to escape or ‘harden themselves’ over the five days since U.S. troops were killed.

‘It’s a huge expenditure of precision munitions from increasingly depleted stockpiles that are needed,’ he continued.

The targets included locations linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard such as command headquarters and munitions depots.  

The huge operation comes a week after Iran-backed militias struck  Tower 22 base near Jordan’s border with Syria and Iraq. 

Sgt. William Jerome Rivers, 46, Specialist Kennedy Ladon Sanders, 24, and Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, were killed and dozens of troops were injured.

Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia was identified as one of the soldiers killed in the weeekend drone strike

Specialist Breonna Moffett, 23, of Savannah, Georgia has been identified as one of the soldiers killed in the drone strike 

The strikes come almost a week after the strike by Iran-backed militias on the Tower 22 base near Jordan's border with Syria and Iraq

The strikes come almost a week after the strike by Iran-backed militias on the Tower 22 base near Jordan’s border with Syria and Iraq

Biden has warned militias who’ve attacked US troops and commercial ships hundreds of times in recent months that they won’t be hit just once.

The president attended the dignified transfer ceremony for the three slain troops earlier on Friday at Dover Air Force Base. 

He held his hand over his heart as he watched their flag-draped coffins being carried across the tarmac after arriving back on home soil.

Despite the American aggression, Biden has insisted he doesn’t want a wider war in Iran.



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