Murphy on Republicans Abetting Trump's Iran War Again: Americans Are Telling Congress to End This War

WASHINGTON– U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) spoke on the Senate floor before a vote on a War Powers Resolution to end Trump’s disastrous war in Iran, which Senate Republicans again blocked. Despite Trump’s assurance of a short military engagement, Murphy revealed how this months-long conflict continues to spin out of control as Americans overwhelmingly call for the war to stop. As this conflict rages on, Murphy emphasized the Trump Administration has failed to achieve any of its stated goals for going to war in the first place, including destroying Iran’s missile capability: “I don't know how many times we heard Secretary Hegseth tell us that the goal was to destroy Iran's missiles and missile capacity. And back in April, he claimed that they had ‘functionally destroyed’ - that's his word - ‘functionally destroyed’ Iran's ability to make new missiles. Well, the Wall Street Journal just reported that Iran is producing ballistic missiles again at scale, and we only were able to eliminate around 30 percent of the missiles. They have most of their stockpiles from before the war... Iran is building missiles again - this was the whole reason we were going into the war-a total failure to eliminate Iran's missile capacity.” Murphy emphasized the Trump Administration’s failures have been borne most directly by American servicemembers: “We just learned this week that eight Navy sailors aboard the U.S. Abraham Lincoln have attempted suicide. Two of those sailors, as we all know, tried to jump overboard to end their lives. This is a ship that was without a port call for 286 days. That is an abdication of leadership, an abdication of the responsibility to care about our troops' safety by our Department of Defense leadership. We have sailors and soldiers and airmen that are in crisis right now because we have put them in harm's way for far longer than any brave man or woman, who has signed up to defend this nation, deserves to be in harm's way.” Murphy argued that by refusing to swiftly end this war, the Trump Administration allowed it to spiral into a broader regional conflict that will continue to hurt American families: “We have a new war that has broken out. A new war has broken out in the last two weeks. This was totally predictable. Everybody said if you go to war with Iran, the Houthis are not going to stand put. They are going to start firing inside Yemen and at the Saudis, and that's exactly what has happened. Drone strikes from the Houthis have knocked out Saudi Arabia's bypass pipeline. Earlier this month, they seized control of routes along the Red Sea. Functionally, the Red Sea is now shut down as a means for the Saudis to move oil out of the region. This is part of the reason why gas prices continue to go up.” Murphy ended with an appeal to Congress to finally act on behalf of the millions of Americans across political parties demanding an end to America’s war with Iran: “Support for this war is at 18% in this country. We are supposed to be a democratic body that listens to the will of the people. The people, whether they're Republicans, independents, or Democrats, are telling us loudly and unequivocally, end this war. And it's not like we can't. This resolution is a chance for this body to end the war. And so we are pleading once again, maybe the 10th time that we've had a resolution like this, for our colleagues to join us. The American public are making it clear they can't handle the costs of this war and they can't stand for the national security harm it's doing to the United States.” A full transcript of Murphy’s remarks is available below. A full video of his remarks is available here . Murphy: Mr. President, I'm on the floor to support yet another resolution to end the war in Iran. Here's the latest poll regarding public support or approval [of the war in Iran]:: 18% of respondents to this latest CNN poll say that President Trump's decisions around the war in Iran are helping the United States. 70% of Americans say that his decisions around the Iran war are hurting Americans. That is a stunning number. Basically, it is only the hardcore MAGA supporters that still believe this war is a good idea. Everybody else, independents, Democrats, independent-thinking Republicans, have all decided that this body needs to vote to end this war, and it's not hard to figure out why. Here's a chart that's familiar to my colleagues. This is the unreal spike in gas and diesel prices that has occurred solely because of this war. If you're in Indiana right now, diesel is $7 a gallon. That's why farms are going bankrupt right now in the Midwest, at record rates: the tariffs and the high price of diesel. But for American consumers who are just filling up their tank with gasoline, the same disaster in California above $6 a gallon, in many states above $5 a gallon, and it's just going up and up and up. But Americans also see that this has been a national security disaster for the country. It's obviously been an economic nightmare. Mortgage rates are at 7% again, by the way, if you hadn't noticed. That's because of the war, primarily, the tariffs as well. But Americans oppose this war 70-to-18 in the current poll because they know that it's hurting our national security. We have not had a resolution on the floor in a number of weeks, so I just want to talk about four things that have happened in the last few weeks that show how this war is spiraling and spiraling out of control. Every single day, this war becomes more dangerous for the region, more of a disaster for the United States. One of the things that the administration said that was a motivating factor for the war was getting rid of Iran's missiles. I don't know how many times we heard Secretary Hegseth tell us that the goal was to destroy Iran's missiles and missile capacity. And back in April, he claimed that they had functionally destroyed - that's his word - functionally destroyed Iran's ability to make new missiles. Well, the Wall Street Journal just reported that Iran is producing ballistic missiles again at scale, and we only were able to eliminate around 30 percent of the missiles. They have most of their stockpiles from before the war. And now they are producing missiles again. Satellite imagery shows that Iran is rebuilding bridges and roads to production sites. They're restoring tunnel entrances and they're building capacity again. Iran is building missiles again - this was the whole reason we were going into the war-a total failure to eliminate Iran's missile capacity. What's the strain on our service members? Well, we just learned this week that eight Navy sailors aboard the U.S. Abraham Lincoln have attempted suicide. Two of those sailors, as we all know, tried to jump overboard to end their lives. This is a ship that has been without a port call. Was without a poor call for 286 days. That is an abdication of leadership, an abdication of the responsibility to care about our troops' safety by our Department of Defense leadership. We have sailors and soldiers and airmen that are in crisis right now because we have put them in harm's way for far longer than any brave man or woman, who has signed up to defend this nation, deserves to be in harm's way. We have a new war that has broken out. A new war has broken out in the last two weeks. This was totally predictable. Everybody said if you go to war with Iran, the Houthis are not going to stand put. They are going to start firing inside Yemen and at the Saudis, and that's exactly what has happened. Drone strikes from the Houthis have knocked out Saudi Arabia's bypass pipeline. Earlier this month, they seized control of routes along the Red Sea. Functionally, the Red Sea is now shut down as a means for the Saudis to move oil out of the region. This is part of the reason why gas prices continue to go up. The Strait of Hormuz is partially open again, but at what expense? Pre-war, it cost a super tanker $200,000 to move through the Strait. Today, it costs $1 million per day for a super tanker to move through the Strait - five times the cost before the war. That alone adds $26 to the cost of each barrel of oil. So even though we're moving some transit through the Strait of Hormuz, it's at a cost that consumers can't afford. And finally, there is satellite imagery in the last few weeks that shows new construction inside Iran around a complex called Pickaxe Mountain. This is probably their new most important nuclear site. It looks as if they are attaching a very deep bunker, deeper than Fordow, to restart their nuclear research program. And as one expert said, the window to strike Pickaxe Mountain has already expired because the regime has dug so far underground that we can now not hit it. And so they are restarting the nuclear program. They are restarting their missile production program, we have not eliminated their drone capability. We are leading to a mass suicide and self-harm crisis amongst our service members. Costs are spiraling out of control for consumers and for farms. A new war is breaking out in the region that threatens the stability of the Middle East and further drives up gas prices. That is why support for this war is at 18 percent in this country. We are supposed to be a democratic body that listens to the will of the people. The people, whether they're Republicans, independents, or Democrats, are telling us loudly and unequivocally, end this war. And it's not like we can't. This resolution is a chance for this body to end the war. And so we are pleading once again, maybe the 10th time that we've had a resolution like this, for our colleagues to join us. The American public are making it clear they can't handle the costs of this war and they can't stand for the national security harm it's doing to the United States. I yield the floor.