Senate Republican confronted on CNN over Trump admin's own 'war' rhetoric

CNN anchor Kasie Hunt challenged Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) on Monday over President Donald Trump's previous claims about wars in the Middle East as the U.S. launched military strikes against Iran.

Hunt pressed Mullin to describe the difference between what Trump has said in the past about conflicts in the Middle East, particularly throughout his campaign for second term as president, compared to what was happening now in the war with Iran.

"Well, this isn't Iraq. We made that very clear. Pete Hegseth, Secretary Hegseth, made that very clear. This isn't the same approach," Mullin said.

"Keep in mind, we took out the leader within an hour, there was there was no direction between where we were going with Iraq and where we're going with Iran," Mullin said. "When we have clear, precise targets that we're hitting, we're taking out their ability to launch missiles at us and our assets around the region, we're clearly not going to allow them — ever — to have a nuclear weapon. And that is very clear. We want to make sure that we're protecting all of our assets at home and abroad, and we wanted to eliminate the threat. The threat has been around for 47 years. The Ayatollah has had a dream since he first came into office in 1979 to create a nuclear weapon. And there's no question if he had the opportunity, it wouldn't be if, it would be a matter of when he would use it on us."

Mullin argued that the U.S. had decided it would never be caught "flat-footed" after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, which was what prompted its attacks in Iran.

"We knew what the Ayatollah's intentions were," Mullin said. "They had been chanting death to America for 47 years. We gave them that opportunity, not a war of choice. And it didn't..."

Hunt interjected.

"Is this not a war of choice? The president ran, and did the president not run on not starting a war with Iran?"

Mullin tried to argue that Trump has ended multiple wars, and then asserted it wasn't a war with Iran — contrary to what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Monday, calling the attacks "war."

Hunt pushed back against the MAGA lawmaker again.

"Is it really not a war?" Hunt asked.