On Monday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) stated that the U.S. has ensured it has “an adequate deterrent capability” in the Middle East but Iran has “empowered all manner of different terrorist organizations in Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis and various militia groups throughout Iraq and Syria and they’ve turned them loose and they seem to think that they can control them.”
Smith said that the U.S. should do what it’s been doing, “which is to push for calm and peace and not an overreaction in the Middle East. So, that’s one. Two, is also what we’ve been doing, which is make sure we have an adequate deterrent capability in the region, support for Israel, certainly, but to protect our troops as well, to make it clear to Hezbollah and Iran and other actors that they don’t want to escalate. And look, they don’t want to escalate. Iran doesn’t want a war, Hezbollah doesn’t want a war. We have to take advantage of that, but make sure we have a deterrent capability in the region, and then keep pushing for a peace deal. The pathway out of this is fairly clear for Israel, get to a ceasefire in Gaza with the return of the hostages, get to a future for the Palestinian people so you can build the security agreement between the U.S., Israel, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Jordan, that has been — was envisioned, frankly, before October 7. That’s where we’ve got to get to. I think the Biden administration is leading the effort for calm and to get to that ceasefire and those alliances being built.”
He added that the situation is “very nervous” and “I think it’s a huge problem and there’s a big risk of miscalculation. Iran has stirred the pot in the Middle East. They have empowered all manner of different terrorist organizations in Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis and various militia groups throughout Iraq and Syria and they’ve turned them loose and they seem to think that they can control them. Well, that’s an extraordinarily risky thing to do with groups like this that are so fanatical in many instances.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
