'Hit Iran Now. Hit Them Hard': Republican Lawmakers Call For Action After American Soldiers Killed In Attack

On Sunday, a drone attack killed three U.S. service members and injured 34 additional personnel in Jordan by Iranian-backed terrorists. The drone reportedly hit a tent that was serving as a temporary housing facility in the dead of the night as soldiers slept. The base, Tower 22, is located on the Syria-Jordan border and has roughly 350 personnel stationed there from the U.S. Army and U.S. Air Force. The attack on American troops in the region is the latest in a slew of drone and rocket attacks that have impacted troops in Iraq, Syria, and now Jordan. The latest escalation has led to a number of lawmakers calling for strikes against Iran in retaliation.

"On Jan. 28, three U.S. service members were killed and 25 injured from a one-way attack [Unmanned Aircraft System] that impacted at a base in northeast Jordan, near the Syria border," U.S. Central Command explained in a statement. "As a matter of respect for the families and in accordance with DoD policy, the identities of the servicemembers will be withheld until 24 hours after their next of kin have been notified."

President Biden said the three American service members were "patriots" and revealed that Iran-backed militants carried out the strikes. "The three American service members we lost were patriots in the highest sense. And their ultimate sacrifice will never be forgotten by our nation," Biden explained. "Together, we will keep the sacred obligation we bear to their families. We will strive to be worthy of their honor and valor. We will carry on their commitment to fight terrorism. And have no doubt — we will hold all those responsible to account at a time and in a manner our choosing."

In response to the strikes, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) called for the administration to hit targets within Iran. "When the Biden Administration says 'don't', the Iranians 'do'. The Biden Administration's rhetoric is falling on deaf ears in Iran," Graham wrote on X/Twitter. "The Biden Administration can take out all the Iranian proxies they like, but it will not deter Iranian aggression. I am calling on the Biden Administration to strike targets of significance inside Iran, not only as reprisal for the killing of our forces, but as deterrence against future aggression. The only thing the Iranian regime understands is force. Until they pay a price with their infrastructure and their personnel, the attacks on U.S. troops will continue....Hit Iran now. Hit them hard."

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) also called for action against the Middle Eastern country, explaining that the president should "Target Tehran," the capital city of Iran. In response to these calls for direct action, conservative commentator Tucker Carlson called both Graham and Cornyn "f*cking lunatics" on X/Twitter.

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) also called for military action "both in Iran and across the Middle East" against various Iranian militants. "Joe Biden emboldened Iran for years by tolerating attacks on our troops, bribing the ayatollahs with billions of dollars, and appeasing them to no end," he said. "He left our troops as sitting ducks and now three are dead and dozens wounded, sadly as I've predicted would happen for months. The only answer to these attacks must be devastating military retaliation against Iran's terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East. Anything less will confirm Joe Biden as a coward unworthy of being commander-in-chief."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) mourned the deaths of the American personnel and blamed Biden for the disaster that is currently underway in the Middle East. "Joe Biden and Biden administration officials made a Day 1 decision not just to appease the Iranian regime, but indeed to enable the Ayatollah to attack Americans and American interests across the Middle East. They enriched the regime by suspending the enforcement of energy sanctions and looked the other way as Iran built a virtual nuclear arsenal," he wrote. "In recent months Iranian-directed proxies attacked Americans over 170 times across the Middle East, but the Biden administration limited any responses to those proxies. The Trump administration's liquidation of Qasem Soleimani had established deterrence by shattering the regime's confidence and signaling that the U.S. would not distinguish between the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxies. The administration restored the IRGC's immunity, collapsing that hard-won deterrence."

"These deliberate, explicit choices by Joe Biden and Biden officials directly led to this weekend's attack, and they should all be reversed immediately," Cruz added.

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