Iran has exhausted its opportunities to pursue peace and now faces "the ultimate consequences," as the United States may need to target Iranian civilian infrastructure to force the regime back to the negotiating table, Rep. Keith Self said Wednesday on Newsmax.
"President [Donald] Trump has given them every opportunity to be a good player, and they have chosen not to," the Texas Republican told Newsmax's "Wake Up America." "[He] realizes that now. So we are going to finish the job."
Self said Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps remains capable of threatening shipping through the Strait of Hormuz despite recent U.S. military operations.
"Everybody realizes that the IRGC still has the guns in the country. They still control it," he said. "They have the drones that they can send into the strait against the shipping. So now is the time, because Iran has proven themselves an unwilling partner in peace."
Self also on Wednesday criticized Senate Democrats for opposing the annual $1.15 trillion defense authorization bill.
Senate Democrats refused Tuesday to advance the bipartisan package that would include funding for a pay raise for the troops in protest of Trump's war against Iran.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., announced his opposition, while other key Democrats said they could not support the National Defense Authorization Act, as the war has entered its fifth month.
Self said Congress must ensure the Pentagon is investing in future conflicts while keeping an eye on the national debt.
"We need to make sure we're buying the weapons for the next war, not the last war," he said.
Self also backed Speaker Mike Johnson's plan to revive the SAVE America Act through budget reconciliation after Democrats blocked it in the Senate.
"There was nothing that will move them," Self said. "So we have to get it through in reconciliation."
He said Republicans should reject any compromise that weakens the bill.
"It's also got to be the actual SAVE America Act with citizenship and with voter ID," Self said. "We can't take some watered down version of it and say that, yes, we passed the SAVE America Act."
Self said the legislation is ultimately intended to ensure "that only U.S. citizens vote in U.S. elections."
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