Delaware’s U.S. Senators are still looking for answers following President Trump’s Wednesday night address to the nation on the war in Iran.
Sen. Chris Coons was pleased the President offered his first formal address to the nation about the war since it started more than a month ago.
But Coons says the speech still left him with major unanswered questions.
"I did not come away from his speech with any more clarity about whether he is going to de-escalate or escalate, what exactly his central goals are, and what the timeline is for this conflict. The costs continue to rise. We've lost more than 13 service members had more than 300 Americans wounded. The price at the pump keeps going up,” said Coons. “So it is unclear to me what his plan is for reopening the Strait of Hormuz."
Coons notes Trump did not state clearly how he will bring this war to a successful conclusion.
Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester argues the president’s speech should have happened before going to war.
Despite that, Blunt Rochester says Trump didn’t clearly state his reasons for going to war.
"I think it is still muddled about how we got into this. Is it about regime change? If so, the regime is still there. Is it about the Strait of Hormuz and making sure that there is security, but also affordability for things like gas and oil prices going up," said Blunt Rochester.
Trump also recently mentioned the possibility of leaving NATO because other members don’t support the war. Coons says federal law states the president can’t unilaterally withdraw from NATO, noting that law was created by current Sec. of State Marco Rubio while he was in the Senate.
Coons also points out that the U.S. had four minesweepers in the Persian Gulf, but they were withdrawn about a month before the strikes in Iran.
That’s important because he says the only successful way Iran will keep the Strait of Hormuz closed is through naval mines.
Coons adds NATO-ally countries have state of the art minesweepers.
