President Donald Trump outside of the White House in Washington, D.C. Photo: Meaghan Ellis/Reuters
A congressman is sounding the alarm that President Donald Trump's declaration of victory leaves something to be desired.
Speaking to CNN on Tuesday, Rep. Mike Quigley (D-Ill.) said that Iran likely knew its former leader's reign was coming to an end, as he was 86 years old. So, the new leadership is likely part of plans that were already in place.
"The fact is, meet the new boss, same as the old boss and maybe worse, right?" said Quigley. "The new leader is more conservative, more rigid, and really more of a threat to the region and to the United States. So if this is victory, then we're in big trouble."
He clarified, "I have no idea the condition of the current leader," when asked about whether Mojtaba Khamenei was still alive.
"I will say this: it really doesn't matter," he added. "The regime isn't going to fold just because its leader is killed. If anything, they seem to be more emboldened. And we've got to ask ourselves the question I hear on the House floor from Democrats and Republicans alike: What are we trying to do?"
He asked whether it was regime change or whether the goal was to actually change how Iran behaves in the area.
"Are we going to declare victory and go home? Is this about the nuclear capacities of Iran?" he also asked. "Maybe we shouldn't. Trump shouldn't have abandoned the treaty in which Iran was in compliance, not to go forward with the bomb. The JCPOA. So it's a mixed message. It's garbled. It's half-truths."
The JCPOA is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the agreement that former President Barack Obama, five other countries and the European Union signed with Iran. Trump said that the deal was bad and tore it up.
The EU site "Modern Diplomacy" reported this week, "Gulf allies express concerns about a premature U.S. withdrawal, fearing fallout from a hostile Iran. Ground troop deployment remains a contentious issue, with warnings from Gulf allies against such an escalation."
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke at the Harvard Institute of Politics last week and made it clear that under President Joe Biden's administration, they knew military intervention was an option, but that they decided Iran's responses weren't worth it.
