On Wednesday’s broadcast of Bloomberg’s “Balance of Power,” Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO) reacted to a U.S. strike that killed a leader of an Iranian proxy group connected to the fatal attacks on U.S. soldiers by stating that “we should expect more and more and more” attacks from Iranian proxies and this strike won’t deter them by itself. He also stated that deterrence efforts have so far failed to improve things in the Middle East.
Bennet said, “Well, what I know is we should expect more and more and more out of this out of Iran and their proxies. And it’s going to be very important for us to act in a way that deters the Iranians and makes sure that this dispute — this war that is happening between Israel and Hamas is not something that’s going to spill out into the broader region. And every single day, Iran’s proxies are testing us and testing us and testing us and they need to know that we are going to respond to that and that we are paying attention to what they’re doing. So, this is not something that you can deter in one day or even one week or I would say even one month. We have to be vigilant about this day after day after day, and that’s — I think that’s what you are seeing today.”
Co-host Kailey Leinz then asked, “Well, but as you see these proxy groups continuing to conduct attacks in the Red Sea and against U.S. forces, is there any real sign that things are improving, that deterrence efforts are even starting to work, even if they haven’t worked entirely? What does the intelligence suggest?”
Bennet responded, “I would not say things are improving. I’d say this is a dangerous moment in the Middle East. I’d say that the Iranian proxies are trying to decide how to gain the most advantage in this war as they can, and, as I said, we’re going to have to be vigilant. And, in my view, we’ve got to get to a place where we can begin to figure out how to have a negotiation about a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinian people that can begin to create some order in this part of the world. That’s not going to happen today or tomorrow, but I think that the United States of America can’t take our eye off that goal. And, in the meantime, we’ve got to make sure that we don’t allow this to escalate into a wider war.”
Bennet added, “I expect that this will continue, that Iran and their proxies will continue to test us and continue to test us, and we’re going to have to make a judgment. The president’s going to have to make a judgment every single day about what the correct deterrence is and how to push back. That’s an assessment that they literally have to make every day, every hour of every day. That’s what we’re going to continue to have to do.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
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