WASHINGTON (TNND) — As a member of the Armed Service Committee, Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Va., was briefed on “Operation Epic Fury” by Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio.
Wittman told The National News Desk the U.S. “significantly degraded” Iran’s ability to produce nuclear weapons.
“My assessment is, is they made significant progress in degrading Iran’s ability to perpetrate harm across the region. And their focus is to take out their conventional capability, that is, their missile systems, their weapons systems, so they can engage others,” Wittman said.
President Donald Trump said he wants to be involved in choosing Iran’s new leader. Wittman said that the next leader should be picked by the Iranian people.
“I think it needs to be determined by the Iranian people. I mean, they’ve been, oppressed now for 47 years under this, this Islamic regime there in Iran, this theocracy that’s been run by clerics. I think what we see right now is you want to take out that extreme element about how the government’s been run there. I listen to the Iranian people know what’s going to be best for their country. I think that this needs to be organic. You need to have,people that are willing to takeon these leadership positions from the Iranian population,” Wittman said.
When asked about a prolonged conflict in the region, Wittman said the U.S. is focused on achieving its goals “quickly.”
“How do you make sure not only do you stabilize the country, but how do you make sure you have proper governance? So this doesn’t happen again,” Wittman said.
“They’re ahead of schedule to be able to do that. I think the President and the Secretary of Defense, and others are very focused on achieving those objectives and not having this turning to a long-range conflict,” Wittman said.
Wittman also warned of a risk of sleeper cells in the U.S, as the Department of Homeland Security remains shut down.