“Iran is facing the severe consequences of its evil actions,” U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said on the social media site X. “President Trump and the administration have made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s sustained nuclear ambitions and development, terrorism, and the murder of Americans—and even their own people.”

“For years, Iran’s relentless nuclear ambitions, its expanded ballistic missile inventory, and its unwavering support for terror groups in the region have posed a clear and unacceptable threat to U.S. servicemembers, citizens in the region, and many of our allies,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) said on X. “I commend President Trump for taking action to thwart these threats.”

“Donald Trump does not get us entangled in forever wars, but he sure as hell stands up to the bad guys and he makes it safer.” –@LindseyGrahamSC pic.twitter.com/ljplEdmEXH

— FOX & Friends (@foxandfriends) February 28, 2026

Also on X, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), chair of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee funding the State Department and foreign operations, posted: “God bless [President Trump] for planning and now executing Operation Epic Fury, making America more safe and eventually more prosperous … This operation has been well-planned. It will be violent, extensive and I believe, at the end of the day, successful. Again, the demise of the ayatollah’s regime with American blood on its hands is necessary and more than justified.”

Rep. Eliise Stefanik (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Armed Services ad Intelligence committees, acknowledged that “there is no decision more serious than military action to protect our national security and American lives,” and a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a serious threat.

God bless @POTUS for planning and now executing Operation Epic Fury, making America more safe and eventually more prosperous. I seek God’s protection for all under President Trump’s command, as well as our allies in Israel.

My mind is racing with the thought that the murderous…

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) February 28, 2026

“I have always been consistent that Iran cannot have nuclear weapons capabilities that would threaten the national security of the United States,” she stated. “Additionally, the sick Iranian regime controlled by the bloodthirsty ayatollah terrorists have destroyed a nation, continued to pursue nuclear weapons threatening America and all of humanity, slaughtered innocent Iranians, and shed blood across the Middle East, including of Americans.”

And U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) called on Iranian leaders to “work with U.S. officials to reach a diplomatic deal as soon as possible.”

“President Trump’s decisive military action in Iran once again reinforces his commitment to American security both at home and abroad,” Kelly said in a statement. “Iran has proven time and time again it should not have nuclear weapons. The Iranian regime remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terror and has repeatedly targeted America and its allies for years.”

Johnson and Thune said the Trump administration, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, had been briefing key lawmakers, but congressional Democrats demanded an immediate classified briefing to answer questions.

“The president owes the country clear answers: What is the objective? What is the strategy to prevent escalation? And how does this make Americans safer?” stated Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee. “Congress must be fully briefed, and the administration must come forward with a clear legal justification, a defined end state, and a plan that avoids dragging the United States into yet another costly and unnecessary war.”

Warner and U.S. Sen. Andy Kim, a former U.S. national security adviser, likened Trump’s decision to then-President George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq in 2003 over allegations, later disproven, that Saddam Hussein was seeking weapons of mass destruction. The war lasted eight years.

“By launching strikes, President Trump has made the same dangerous and foolish decision President Bush did a generation ago,” Kim (D-N.J.) stated. “He put Americans in harm’s way without clearly showing there’s an imminent threat to our national security. He put the Iranian people in harm’s way by calling on them to rise up without a broad coalition of partners to assist in their protection. And Trump once again started a cycle of violence that has already escalated and could spiral out of control. This is unacceptable.”

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on the Senate to quickly return to Washington to debate and vote on whether to authorize military action. The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war.

“The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat,” Schumer stated. “Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions, and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination, and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”

Both House and Senate Democratic leaders last week said they would force a vote on legislation to prevent the U.S. from going to war against Iran without congressional approval.

“The Constitution is clear: the decision to take this nation to war rests with Congress, and launching large-scale military operations— particularly in the absence of an imminent threat to the United States—raises serious legal and constitutional concerns,” Warner stated.

“Congress must be fully briefed, and the administration must come forward with a clear legal justification, a defined end state, and a plan that avoids dragging the United States into yet another costly and unnecessary war,” he said.

Some Democrats offered praise for Trump’s actions.

“The U.S. is destroying Iran’s missiles and bombs to stop them from taking more lives,” Rep. Greg Landsman (D-Ohio) stated. “These strikes are targeting military infrastructure—with warnings to Iranian civilians to take shelter away from these military targets. If it wasn’t for the regime, the region may very well know peace.”

“I hope these targeted strikes on the Iranian regime’s military assets end the regime’s mayhem and bloodshed and make way for this lasting peace in the region.”

U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.), a member of the House Intelligence Committee, welcomed the “decisive action to defend our national security, fight terror, protect our allies, and stand with the Iranian people who have been massacred in the streets for demanding freedom from the murderous Iranian regime.”