Sen. Wicker: US airstrikes ‘welcome,’ but ‘too late’ for 3 US service members killed in Jordan

Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) said recent airstrikes in retaliation for an attack last week on a base in Jordan that killed three service members are “welcome,” but “too late” for those who died.

“These military strikes are welcome, but come far too late for the three brave Americans who died and the nearly 50 wounded,” Wicker said in a statement posted to his account on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.

Wicker alleged the Biden administration was congratulating itself for doing ‘the bare minimum,’ and suggested the U.S. response has been too weak.

“Instead of giving the Ayatollah the bloody nose that he deserves, we continue to give him a slap on the wrist,” Wicker said.

The U.S. began airstrikes on groups supported by Iran in Syria and Iraq Friday, in retaliation for the attack on the base in Jordan.

U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) said it started airstrikes Friday evening in Iraq and Syria against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Quds Force “and affiliated militia groups.”

“U.S. military forces struck more than 85 targets, with numerous aircraft to include long-range bombers flown from the United States,” CENTCOM said in a statement. “The airstrikes employed more than 125 precision munitions.”

In his statement, Wicker also said that the Biden administration “spent nearly a week foolishly telegraphing U.S. intentions to our adversaries, giving them time to relocate and hide.”

“It is past time for our commander-in-chief to adopt a new approach that targets the actual sponsors of terrorism in the region,” Wicker said. 

Former NATO ambassador Kurt Volker said the Biden administration sent a specific message by not targeting Iran in recent airstrikes in a recent interview.

“I suspect that what the administration is trying to do by not hitting Iran, is to send a signal to Iran, ‘Don’t hit us on our homeland, particularly during an election year,’” Volker said on “On Balance with Leland Vittert.”