Sen. John Fetterman publicly broke with much of his party by praising President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran and calling the death of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei a historic event Americans should celebrate.
The remarks arrived as Washington debated Operation Epic Fury, the joint U.S.-Israeli strike campaign that has sparked backlash from some Democrats and renewed questions about presidential war powers.
On “Hannity,” Fetterman bluntly called Khamenei “one of the most evil people that ever lived” and said his death should unite Americans rather than divide them.
“And I can’t imagine why Democrat, Republican, everyone can’t celebrate that [Khamenei’s death], because tens of millions of people in Iran are absolutely celebrating that thing,” he said.
Fetterman suggested Khamenei’s fall could open the door to a long-awaited chance for real peace in the Middle East.
“And now you could have real peace in that region and a way forward, perhaps being freed from this toxic, awful regime,” he added.
Officials say Operation Epic Fury involved coordinated U.S. and Israeli strikes on key Iranian military and regime targets, including command-and-control sites, missile infrastructure, air defense systems and locations tied to Iran’s broader war machine.
Partisan Responses and Criticism
The operation exposed fault lines across both parties, with some Democrats denouncing the strikes as reckless and some Republicans questioning whether Trump acted without congressional approval.
Fetterman made clear he had little patience for that hand-wringing.
He called out the “naysayers” and “so-called experts” who predicted the campaign would spiral into chaos and asked, “Aren’t you ever tired of being wrong about this?”
“Everybody claimed that this was going to turn into like a huge disaster, or said that things could… get out of control. And that’s just absolutely not what happened,” he said.
Rationale for Support
On “Fox & Friends Weekend” Fetterman explained why he was willing to split with his party and even with Republicans who opposed the strikes.
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“Well, because that was always the right thing,” he said.
“You can issue tweets and statements supporting peace, but to create real peace you must take actions like these,” he said.
“That includes past efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities,” he added.
At a time when much of the left criticized Trump first and asked questions later, Fetterman’s remarks stood out as a rare moment of candor from a Democrat willing to recognize that removing a regime responsible for decades of terror, bloodshed and threats against Americans is a major victory rather than something to mourn.
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