Oklahoma Lawmakers Weigh In On US Drone Strike, Top Iranian General's Death

Increasing tensions with Iran is the hot topic in Washington as federal lawmakers begin returning from the holiday break. News 9/News On 6's Alex Cameron spoke with Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford to get their thoughts.

Monday, January 6th 2020, 11:27 pm

By: News On 6


Increasing tensions with Iran is the hot topic in Washington, D.C., as federal lawmakers began returning from the holiday break.

The U.S. House was in recess until Tuesday, but the Senate was back, which gave Washington Bureau Chief Alex Cameron the opportunity to talk with two of Oklahoma's Own: Sens. Jim Inhofe and James Lankford.

Inhofe is the chair of the Armed Services Committee, and he wholeheartedly supports President Donald Trump's drone strike that killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. Inhofe said previous presidents had talked about red lines, but then failed to act when said line was crossed.

"Now we have a president where that red line means something, and there can be no doubt in anyone's mind. Yes, he withheld his actions; he withheld his judgments until an American was killed. He said, 'You killed an American, and we'll kill you,'" Inhofe said.

And concerns that the general's assassination puts Americans at greater risk, the senator said, are overblown.

Lankford wants to know more about justification for the attack, but he said based on what he's seen so far, the president's action was not only constitutional, it was warranted.

"This is not something that the president has provoked though I think people forget in their short-term memory, at times, that Iran just a couple months ago launched missiles into an oil field in Saudi Arabia completely unprovoked. Iran started putting mines onto ships coming through the Persian Gulf, completely unprovoked. They're the ones leading a nuclear program for a long time, quietly, clandestinely," he said.

Although the House was not in session, News 9's Alex Cameron was able to speak on the phone with District 4 Rep. Tom Cole. He told Alex that, frankly, he was surprised that President Trump ordered the drone strike. Cole said that personally, he thinks it was the right thing to do.

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