House Democratic leadership on April 7 condemned President Donald Trump’s comments earlier in the day about potentially ending the Iranian civilization and called on Congress to return to session immediately.
“His statement threatening to eradicate an entire civilization shocks the conscience and requires a decisive congressional response,” top House Democrats said in a joint statement.
“The House must come back into session immediately and vote to end this reckless war of choice in the Middle East before Donald Trump plunges our country into World War III.”
Trump on Sunday gave Iran until 8 p.m. ET on April 7 to agree to open the Strait of Hormuz, a major conduit for global oil trade and other cargo, or face major escalations in the ongoing war, which is in its sixth week. In a post to TruthSocial, he told Iran to open the Strait “or you'll be living in Hell.”
With the Strait still closed, Trump wrote on social media on Tuesday: “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to happen, but it probably will.”
“However, now that we have Complete and Total Regime Change, where different, smarter, and less radicalized minds prevail, maybe something revolutionarily wonderful can happen, WHO KNOWS?” he added.
The White House repeated the Trump administration’s condemnations of the Iranian regime’s human rights abuses in response to a request for comment on Tuesday.
“As President Trump has said, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon, and the Iranian people welcome the sound of bombs because it means their oppressors are losing,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly said in a statement to The Epoch Times.
“The President will always stand with innocent civilians while annihilating the terrorists responsible for threatening our country and the entire world with a nuclear weapon,” she added.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the start of the war that the United States was attacking Iran to end the terroristic regime’s nuclear weapons program and the “massive short-range ballistic missile inventory” it was hiding behind.
The Democrats also called on “House Republicans to put patriotic duty over party loyalty and join Democrats in stopping this madness.”
Those who signed the joint statement include House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), Democratic Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-Calif.), and Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Ted Lieu (D-Calif.).
Just hours before the deadline arrived, Trump said that the two sides have agreed on a two-week cease-fire mediated by Pakistan.
Senate Democrats
Top Senate Democrats also criticized Trump’s remarks in a joint statement Tuesday afternoon, calling the act of destroying “power, water, or basic infrastructure upon which tens of millions of civilians depend” a war crime and a betrayal of American values.The statement signatories included Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.), and Ranking Member of the Senate Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Defense Chris Coons (D-Del.).
Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) wrote a letter to Vice President JD Vance and all Trump Cabinet secretaries on Tuesday to immediately invoke Section Four of the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to remove from office the president, who she alleged is “likely suffering from dementia.”
That provision allows for the Vice President and a majority of Cabinet secretaries to discharge the president’s powers and authority if they deem the commander-in-chief unfit to serve in that capacity.
Republicans Respond
The official Senate Republican X account supported the president’s position: “Iran would be wise to take President Trump at his word. They can choose the easy way or the hard way.”And it later responded to a Schumer post criticizing Trump: “The Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans and is the largest state sponsor of terrorism. ... It’s about time we had a President willing to defend Americans.”
Some congressional Republicans, however, also expressed concern over the president’s remarks on Tuesday.
“So, let me be clear: I do not support the destruction of a ‘whole civilization,’” Moran said.
Just hours after Trump’s post, Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) was asked about the civilization-ending remarks during an interview on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast.
Johnson said he was “hoping and praying” that the president’s threat was “bluster.”
“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure,” he said.
