House Intelligence chair says Biden administration has ‘no policy’ on Iran

House Intelligence Chair Mike Turner (R-Ohio) slammed the Biden administration Sunday for having “no policy” on Iran.

Turner said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” that the Biden administration has “confusion among their goals and objectives” related to the recent U.S. strikes in the Middle East. His comments come just days after the U.S. launched strikes on Iranian-backed groups in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the deadly drone attack in Jordan that killed three U.S. service members last week.

“But this is a problem … They keep saying that they want to, you know, retaliate, but then they say it’s about deterrence, then they say it’s about diminishing capabilities,” Turner told CBS’s Margaret Brennan. “Those are all different goals and objectives. And they’re not doing any of those. We all know that this is just about Iran. These are all franchises of Iran.”

“And the administration has no policy with respect to Iran, how to diminish their capability, diminish these attacks and diminish their nefarious activities in the Middle East,” he continued.

Turner continued to emphasize that the Biden administration had “no goal and objective” when it comes to Iran, noting that it “pays no price when militias are attacked.”

“The administration needs two things: a real plan with respect to Iran and countering Iran in the area. But secondly, diminishing capacity to stop these attacks. We can’t play defense forever,” Turner said.

“Our systems to protect our troops and our ships cannot continue to respond to these attacks with 100 percent success. Tolerating the attacks, tolerates casualties. We need to diminish their capability, and we need to take this problem to Iran,” he added.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) accused President Biden last week of “excessive signaling” ahead of the U.S.’s planned strikes. Johnson and other Republicans suggested that Biden was too slow in responding to the deadly attack in Jordan, while others called for stronger action against Iran in wake of the attack.

“The tragic deaths of three U.S. troops in Jordan, perpetrated by Iran-backed militias, demanded a clear and forceful response. Unfortunately, the administration waited for a week and telegraphed to the world, including to Iran, the nature of our response,” Johnson said in a statement Friday.