GOP Louisiana Sen John Kennedy Says Bailing on Iran War Would Be A ‘Huge, Huge Mistake’

Republican Louisiana Senator John Kennedy said during a Sunday interview on “Face the Nation” that the United States should stay the course in Iran even as most Americans want the war to end.

Pulling the U.S. out of Iran would be a “huge, huge mistake,” Kennedy told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan. Kennedy had, however, criticized Secretary of War Pete Hegseth over a $67 billion request to fund the war during a Senate hearing Tuesday.

Brennan asked Kennedy whether the administration agreed to give him a “classified, detailed briefing” on Iran. The senator did not elaborate, instead faulting the White House’s public case for the war.

“I support the president in Iran. We all need to do a better job messaging,” Kennedy said. Trump, however, “exists loudly” and “is not always disciplined in his messaging,” he added.

“I’m not saying he should stop talking,” Kennedy said. He called for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine, Director of National Intelligence John Ratcliffe, and Hegseth to “ out there, either in a speech or in a long press conference, to explain what’s going on in Iran, why we went in, why we’re still there.”

Kennedy then directed his attention to Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and the Democrats who want the U.S. to withdraw from the Iran conflict.

“Bernie wants to just come home. He wants to turn out the lights, make sure the cat’s inside, and go to bed,” Kennedy said. “That would be a huge, huge mistake.”

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