ICYMI: On ‘Despierta América,’ Kelly Spotlights How Trump’s Decision-Making on Iran is Making Americans Less Safe

In case you missed it, this morning Arizona Senator Mark Kelly joined Univision’s ‘Despierta América’ to talk about the conflict in Iran from his perspective as a combat veteran who flew 39 combat missions during the first Gulf War. In his conversation with journalist Satcha Pretto, Kelly also described how President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites without a goal and a plan makes Americans less safe. 

Read key excerpts from the interview below:   

On new intelligence reports that suggest the U.S. strikes only set back the program a few months while the Trump administration argues the sites were ‘obliterated’… 

I flew 39 combat missions in the first Gulf War, and that was a conflict where we had a goal and a plan consultation with Congress ahead of time, not like this was done, and we certainly didn’t have a president back then in George H. W. Bush that would just make kind of random determinations about the outcome before anything was analyzed. 

On Trump ordering the attacks without the approval of Congress… 

Congress has the authority to declare war on another nation. At a minimum, he [Trump] should have come to us and say, “Hey, we’ve exhausted all diplomatic options, and we want to take the next step.” 

On his biggest concern after the strikes… 

The biggest concern right now is, what do the Iranians do? We don’t know if they’re going to now try to race to build a nuclear bomb with the fuel they currently have, or, you know, the other option, and I hope […] they realize that they should come to the negotiating table, and we could pursue a diplomatic option. 

Click here to watch the full interview.