Brian Mast defends US strikes on Iran, rejects Israel’s claim that it dragged America
NEWNow you can listen to Fox News articles!
Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told Fox News Digital in an interview that the United States now has a clear and defined military objective in Iran: to dismantle the regime’s ability to strike Americans.
He said the U.S. mission is to “eliminate virtually every military weapon that exists in Iran that can reach and affect an American somewhere in the Middle East.”
“That’s what we’re doing right now to not hit with something, a surface-to-surface missile or a surface-to-air missile or anything else, with a nuclear tip, but with any other tip.”
A screenshot from a video released by the US Central Command (CENTCOM), accompanying a press release describing the operation called “Epic Fury”, the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, shows smoke and dust rising following an explosion in an unknown location, in this image found on social media released on Feb. 28, 2026. Verification lines: The location and date the video was not verified. The US confirmed the attack on Iran on Saturday. (US CENTCOM via X via REUTERS)
Mast paid tribute to the three Americans killed in the operation. “These service members understood the dangers of their job. They went out there, they did their job to protect the United States of America, and I couldn’t be more proud to thank them for their service, and I’m proud to be their brother in arms.”
He emphasized that the scope and duration of the operation will be decided by the management. “The end of this military in the United States is in our hands,” he said.
Mast pushed back strongly against allegations that Israel dragged the United States into war with Iran, saying the Trump administration had initially pursued negotiations and set a deadline before military action.
“Israel has not dragged the United States of America anywhere,” he said in an interview. “The United States, in the lead, started negotiations with Iran to say, stop the nuclear program, stop your missile program and your support for these proxies who are always attacking the United States of America.”
OMAR, PARTY WATCHED THROUGH TRUMP RESPONDING TO IRAN STAKE: ‘ILLEGAL REGIME CHANGES WAR’
The world’s largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford sails alongside the USNS Laramie. (US Naval Forces Central Command / US 6th Fleet / Handout via Reuters)
“Everything is part of that debate and that discussion. When should something be done? How should something be done? Obviously, the United States of America and President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, Secretary Rubio, our Director of Intelligence, our director of our CIA, John Radcliffe, are working to get all the assets in place for a negotiating tool to eliminate that real part of Iran.”
“It was no accident that we crossed our fingers and had the Ford team there, the Lincoln carrier team. That’s something that took time,” he added. “Now, the way to deal with politics was the preferred way. That’s why it started with that instead of starting with a military strike. And what I can tell you about those talks, I’m talking directly to those people I just mentioned, is that Iran has entered into this extreme arrogance. They are not willing to really discuss anything related to ending their nuclear program,” he said.
IRAN SEEK ‘DEFINITIVE’ UN DEFENSE AFTER TRUMP KILLS TOP LEADER IN EPIC FURY
Smoke billows over the city after the Israeli military launched a second wave of airstrikes against Iran in Tehran on February 28, 2026. (Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“Even after the United States offered the money for nuclear weapons through the civilian power program if Iran agreed not to go ahead with weapons, they didn’t want that. They didn’t want to talk about ending their missile program.”
Looking ahead, Mast suggested the conflict could reshape Iran’s political future. He described the formal process of succession, “starting with this three-person council, eventually moving to this 88-person assembly that will come out of there and choose the next leader,” and noted potential contenders including “the son of the Ayatollah, the grandson of the ayatollah” and “a hard-line cleric named Arafi, who is very close to the IRGCRG.”
But he also suggested the possibility of wider unrest.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS PROGRAM
The Chairman of the US Rep. Brian Mast (R-FL) on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, US, May 21, 2025. (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)
“That assumes there is no protest, when people, millions and millions of people all over Iran who have been brutally tortured and oppressed do not decide that there is another way,” said Mast.
“We want to see a change, a turning of the page in what Iran has been doing.”
Related Article
