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Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) warned this week that Tehran will not back down from its military operations against the U.S. as pressure mounts on the Trump administration to end the Iran war amid high fuel costs and a growing military death toll.
Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told MS NOW’s Chris Hayes on Monday that President Trump has “no options” moving forward in the conflict.
“The president has no cards to play here,” he said. “Unfortunately, Iran has been winning this war, and they’re likely going to win this round again just because of those dynamics that we should have learned now from other conflicts.”
The total number of U.S. service members killed in action in the military operations has risen to 17 after U.S. Central Command announced three casualties sustained during Iranian strikes within a 24-hour period last week.
Trump warned in a Truth Social post following the deaths that “every time Iran kills an American Soldier they will pay for that killing many times over!”
The president will participate in a dignified transfer ceremony for the bodies of the three fallen soldiers at Dover Air Force Base, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Monday.
A previous ceasefire agreement between the two sides is in tatters, and energy prices are once again rising as Iran works to choke off traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The Pentagon announced Monday its plans to send more aircraft to the Middle East as the conflict ramps back up. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Dan Caine are asking senators for $67.1 billion in additional emergency funding for the war effort on Tuesday.
Murphy cast his doubts that Senate Republican leadership would approve such funding, pointing to political pressure ahead of the midterm elections. He also indicated time constraints in weapons manufacturing.
“They’re in a spot where, even with new money, they have put our forces in really grave danger, and Iran knows that, which is why Iran isn’t really scared of escalation,” Murphy said. “They know that the United States will likely have to stop far before Iran has to stop.”
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