Chairman Wicker Addresses President Trump’s Military Action Against Iran

Chairman Wicker Addresses President Trump’s Military Action Against Iran
March 4, 2026
Watch Video Here.
WASHINGTON –
U.S. Senator Roger Wicker, R-Miss.,
Chairman
of the Senate Armed Services Committee,
today spoke on the
U.S.
Senate floor
regarding
President Trump’s decision to conduct military operations against Iran.
In his speech, the
c
hairman
emphasized that the
p
resident’s decision was
the
correct
c
hoice
to protect American interests and security
. He also
highlight
ed
the importance of supporting the American service members deployed in the op
eration.
Read
Chairman
Wicker’s Speech as delivered
.
This weekend, our commander-in-chief made the most difficult decision a president can make
.
He ordered young American service members into action
.
My
friends on the other side of the
aisle
are challenging the president’s choice—and they are entitled to do so
.
I do find myself amazed from time to time
with
their rhetoric
on the floor this morning and this afternoon
.
To
hear
them, apparently, President
Trump
should have announced to the world that he was going to bomb the headquarters of the
Ayatollah
and destroy the leadership of Iran
who
has attacked the United S
t
ates and killed Americans fo
r over four decades
.
Apparently
,
if
this war lasts as long as five weeks, we should agree that we will fold our tents and come home
and leave the job undone
.
Apparently
,
the
fact that
the ruthless drug lord
dictator
of
Venezuela
, President Maduro, is
out of office is
a bad thing
.
I disagree with that, and I wonder how that rhetoric
is going to
last through the decades
.
W
e’ll
see
.
I will vote
n
o on the pending resolution
.
Pres
ident Tr
ump dec
ided to attack Iran
.
That
dec
ision
w
as profound, deliberate, and correct.
The president understands the weight of war
.
He was clear-eyed about the risks, and he was honest with the American people
.
From
very early
on Saturday morning he said, “We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear armed Iran.”
Indeed, we must be mindful of the brave men and women deployed in this operation
.
And
certainly
, we
grieve
for
the six American service me
n and women
who have died in the fighting
.
I also
grieve
for the thousands of Americans that have died over the last 47 years at the hands of the brutal, Islamist
,
9
th
century regime in Iran
.
I
grieve
for
those
.
We care for any civilians caught in harm’s way
, and
,
yes, we are doing our best to get them out
.
War is hell, which is why we prioritize deterrence and engage only when
absolutely necessary
.
But when we
enter into
combat, we must do so deliberately, as this administration has done
.
My colleagues ask
,
“
W
hy are we doing this?”
The president has given at least four goals
explicitly
.
We are doing this
t
o destroy Iran’s missile capabilities and their ability to produce missiles
.
That
’
s
a good thing
.
We’re
doing this to
annihilate the Iranian nav
y,
to
ensure the regime can no longer arm, direct, and fund
the
terrorist activities
that have gone on for
more than
four decades
, and
t
o prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon
.
That’s
why
we’re
doing it and why
I’ll
vote against this resolution.
The facts on the ground reflect this limited set of goals
.
We have taken out their air defenses and missile systems ahead of schedule
.
That’s
a good thing
.
Last week, Iran had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman
.
Today, they have none
.
That’s
a good thing
.
We can expect to see airstrikes continue until our military
objectives
are achieved, a task that will take weeks, not days
.
But we ought to stay there long enough to get it done.
I think the
president’s decision
was correct.
For decades
,
Mr. President
, the Iranian regime has killed
thousands of
Americans
and thousands of citizens of our friends and allies
and supported those who do
.
Too many American service members have lost brothers-in-arms to Iranian violence
.
Too many parents have lost sons and daughters
to Iranian oppression
.
For decades, Iran had been the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism
—
t
he Houthis, Hamas
, other armed
groups
.
The regime armed, funded, and trained terrorist groups across the region
.
These proxies have attacked
and killed thousands of
our people and
thousands
our friends.
Iran is a murderous partner in the
overall
Axis of Aggressors—which includes China, Russia, and North Korea
.
They are all
pals
,
and
they are all
allies
.
The Ayatollah was a friend of the tyrants who lead those nations
.
He stood with Xi
Jinping,
he stood with
the war criminal Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un
.
Like them, the Supreme Leader violently suppressed his people.
The regime was hell-bent on
acquiring
the world’s worst weapons
.
If successful, they could have struck our friends, our bases, and—in time—our homeland
, Washington D.C. and America
.
President Trump, on the other hand, said from day one that he would keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear
weapon
.
That
is a
major part of what this is about
.
He knew the Ayatollah had to be stopped, and he
came to the conclusion
that now was the time to do
it
.
Already, Israel had devastated Iran’s proxies
.
Last summer, President Trump
rained down
fire
on Iran’s nuclear facilities
.
And in the past few months, untold numbers of Iranians stood up to the regime
.
The citizens of Iran stood up to this murderous regime
in a massive show of opposition to the Ayatollah
.
Last Saturday morning, Iran had never been weaker
.
The time had come for the United States
and for our all
y Israel
to strike
.
President Trump, the commander-in-chief, made that most difficult of decisions
,
and
I think
it
will stand the test of time.
This does not have to be a forever war
.
It
’s
not an aimless exercise in the Middle East
.
This is a measured campaign to
eliminate
the Ayatollah’s threat
.
It might take time to finish
.
W
e’re
certain
l
y not going to put a time limit on it,
but that does not make it endless
.
It is, instead, a weighty, deliberate, and correct decision made to protect
the United States of
America
, and I shall vote no on the resolution
.
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https://www.wicker.senate.gov/2026/3/chairman-wicker-addresses-president-trump-s-military-action-against-iran