Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said Monday that Iran targeting U.S. military bases “is hopefully performative,” in the wake of U.S. strikes against the Middle Eastern country.
“We are in this snowball that is going downhill that nobody really controls,” Himes told MSNBC’s Chris Jansing.
“Now, I completely agree with your military expert. Hopefully, this is performative. Hopefully, this is the Iranian regime saying, ‘We can’t afford to let the attack on our nuclear facilities go unanswered,’” he added.
President Trump announced Saturday that the United States had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites, stepping into a conflict between Iran and Israel that kicked off earlier this month. Saturday’s U.S. strikes raised already heightened Middle East tensions over Israel’s war in Gaza and Iran’s nuclear capability.
Iran has since launched an attack on a U.S. Air Force base in Qatar, with a spokesperson for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying in a statement that Qatari air defenses “thwarted the attack and successfully intercepted the Iranian missiles.”
“Iran has officially responded to our Obliteration of their Nuclear Facilities with a very weak response, which we expected, and have very effectively countered,” Trump said in a Monday Truth Social post.
Trump on Sunday suggested regime change could be possible in Iran if the current one is “unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN.”
“It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change??? MIGA!!!” Trump said in a Truth Social post.