Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, shut down the possibility that the war in Iran would become a long, protracted engagement for the U.S. during an interview on Tuesday, and said he wouldn’t support an extended operation in the region.
“I don’t think there’s any possibility that this becomes a long, protracted military engagement. You’re not going to see hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground. You’re not going to see us there months and then years. Iran is not Iraq. They are very, very different. I think the Iraq war was a mistake. I would not support a major and extended invasion in Iran. This is very different. These are targeted, but very consequential strikes to take out a very direct threat,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box.”
Cruz sounded the alarm on Iran and the regime‘s attacks against Americans over the last 40 years.
“Twice, the Ayatollah has hired hitmen and sent them to try to murder President Trump. And so I think President Trump made a very reasonable decision that he was going to act as commander in chief to stop this threat to America,” the Texas senator said.
The senator argued that the spike in oil prices would be temporary.
“In terms of the oil prices, we’ve seen a temporary spike. I don’t think it will be extended. Naturally, when you have military conflict in the Middle East, that predictably has an impact on oil prices. But I think over the long term, this will put downward pressure on oil prices.”
The war with Iran has sent global oil prices skyrocketing past $100 a barrel as the regime’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz has all but stopped tankers from using the shipping lane.
With oil higher, gasoline and diesel prices are rising fast.
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President Donald Trump told Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst that he is “not happy” with Iran’s choice of Mojtaba Khamenei as the new supreme leader.
Trump warned in a Truth Social post Monday that Iran will be hit “twenty times harder” if the regime does anything that stops the flow of oil within the Strait of Hormuz. Trump said the U.S. would “take out easily destroyable targets that will make it virtually impossible for Iran to ever be built back” as a nation but that he prays that does not happen.
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Cruz was also pressed on Trump, saying Monday that the U.S. was nearing the end of the war.
CNBC’s Becky Quick asked, “If we’re near the end to that, my assumption was at that point that maybe we would live without the regime change. But you’re convinced that the president is waiting for a regime change — that could take a little longer than some people are anticipating?”
“I think the president is right, regardless that we’re near the end of it,” Cruz responded. “It is certainly possible this lasts a couple more weeks, but I don’t think we’re looking at a many-month or many-year engagement. I think this is focused at delivering on concrete objectives, and I think many of them are being delivered on already.”
When asked for comment, the White House directed Fox News Digital to the president’s comments during a Monday press conference where he said the war could end soon and touted what the U.S. has achieved in its strikes so far.
