DORAL, Fla. — House Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans said Tuesday the U.S. should not be involved in nation-building in Iran, a day after President Donald Trump called the operation there “the beginning of building a new country.”
“I don’t” support nation-building, Johnson, R-La., said in a fireside chat with NBC News at House Republicans’ annual policy conference in south Florida. “I don’t think it’s our role,”
He added that “America has a very important role to play in the world” and that it is “the defenders of freedom and liberty.”
“Does that mean that we should be intervening everywhere around the world and nation-building and doing all these other endeavors?” Johnson continued. “No, because we don’t have the resources or the appetite to do that. That’s not our responsibility. Our responsibility, in my view, is to project peace through strength.”
Johnson echoed Trump’s appeal to the Iranian people in a video message posted after the initial U.S. strikes began late last month. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said at the time.
The Iranian people “need to rise up, as the president has tried to encourage,” Johnson told reporters at the retreat at Trump’s golf club here, Trump National Doral Miami. “And they need to take that opportunity, and they need to secure that for themselves. I’m sure that there are friends and allies around the world who will help in some ways, but it is not America’s responsibility to do that.”
Johnson spoke after some mixed messaging from Trump, who addressed House Republicans at the club Monday. Trump called the war in Iran “a little excursion … a short-term excursion,” and said the mission was “pretty well complete,” but he also warned that Iran would face “death, fire and fury” if it blocked oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.
Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, former chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said at the GOP gathering that putting U.S. boots on the ground in Iran “would be a mistake.” Trump has not ruled out sending ground troops to Iran, and NBC News reported late last week that Trump had privately shown interest in deploying some ground troops, citing four people with knowledge of those conversations.
Asked in an interview whether the U.S. should be involved in nation-building in Iran, McCaul replied: “Well, we’re not good at it. I mean, we’re good at breaking things. We’re not good at rebuilding them.”
Johnson said he had not been briefed on reports that Russia has been providing intelligence to Iran about the locations of U.S. forces in the Middle East. But he said that development would be troubling and that tougher sanctions on Moscow could be needed.
“I’ve been an advocate for strong sanctions on Russia for a long time. … Certainly, if there’s a new and provocative action like this, that would probably be something that the Congress would be very interested in acting upon,” he said. “I think we have to make it so painful for Vladimir Putin that he finally puts down the weapons, and it may take some time yet for that to happen.”
In recent days, Trump has insisted that Congress pass and send him the SAVE America Act, an election bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote, vowing he will not sign any other bills until that happens. The House has already passed a version, but Trump now wants additional provisions, including banning transgender people from women’s sports and gender transition surgery for children.
Asked whether Trump’s threat not to sign any other legislation means the end of legislating this Congress, Johnson said, “It’s not.”
“I’ll talk with him about that,” he said. “We’ll work with him.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., who is having his own challenges passing the legislation, suggested Johnson should take up the bill again with Trump’s new demands.
Informed of Thune’s comments, Johnson responded: “He said that? All right. Be careful what you ask for.”
History shows that the party that controls the White House typically loses House seats in the midterm elections. With Johnson presiding over a measly one-vote margin, Democrats are in a good position to take back the House in November.
Johnson said Republicans will defy history and expectations in the upcoming elections, but he would not rule out running for minority leader if the GOP loses. That is what former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., did after Democrats lost the House in the 2010 tea party wave.
“There’s no riding off in the sunset; there’s too much to do,” Johnson said. “And I don’t think about alternatives. I am laser-focused on the goal. … They have written my epitaph 20 times. They said that I wouldn’t last three weeks. Then I wouldn’t last three months. As speaker, I think we’re almost 2½ years in now.
“They said we couldn’t do the ‘big, beautiful bill.’ They said we wouldn’t win the midterms in 2024. I got headlines from some of your outlets the night before the election in 2024, saying we’re going to lose the majority. I don’t buy it. I don’t believe it,” Johnson continued.
“I look straight ahead. I focus on the vision, on the goal, and we get it done every single time,” he said. “We’re going to do it again. … History is going to be different this time. It’s going to be defying the trend.”
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