U.S. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) is being criticized for comments he made on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan on Sunday, regarding the U.S. war with Iran.
[NOTE: At a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing last week when he questioned Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth about his request for $67 billion in funding for the Iran War, Kennedy noted that the majority of Americans want the war to end now. Kennedy told Hegseth he needed more information to make a decision on the request, which would require a classified, detailed briefing.]
Kennedy, who has said that he supports President Trump on the Iran war, told Brennan that has a meeting scheduled with General Dan Caine on Wednesday, and said, “We all need to do a better job messaging.”
Kennedy: If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course—at least for a few more months. pic.twitter.com/cRpVsXr4Uv
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 26, 2026
Kennedy added: “Look, here’s what I think we ought to do. I think we ought to tighten the sanctions on the sale of Iranian oil. I think we ought to continue the blockade and starve them out. I think we ought to bomb Pickaxe Mountain and try to reach what’s underneath it. I don’t know about — I don’t have enough information to know about continuing the attacks. The president likes the daily attacks. He believes that sometimes you have to kill a few chickens to scare the monkeys. That’s not — I don’t think that’s going to work with the Iranian leadership. These people are more than mildly insane. It’s like dealing with Son of Sam or Charles Manson. But I don’t think we ought to just cut and run. If we can stand the pain of the rising cost of energy, we need to stay the course, at least for a few more months. I also don’t think we need to send in troops. That’s my opinion, for what it’s worth.”
Many on X objected to Kennedy’s suggestion that Americans should “stand the pain” for “a few more months,” and noted the senator’s net worth — $21 million according to Quiver Quantitative.