Sen. Kennedy to Newsmax: Trump Had No Choice but to Attack Iran

Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., told Newsmax on Friday that President Donald Trump did not start a war with Iran but was trying to stop one.

"Our intelligence shows ... that the political leadership in Iran, they were not going to ever stop trying to develop a nuclear warhead and their game plan after we bombed them in June was to start over," Kennedy said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

 "They were manufacturing hundreds of missiles a month, and their game plan was to manufacture enough missiles with the help of China and Russia, so that no one could attack them without them blowing up the entire Middle East," he added. "And we could not allow that to happen."

Kennedy said the goal of the operation is to destroy the efforts Iran had resumed to develop a nuclear weapon.

"To destroy or make them use up all their missiles and drones, to destroy their navy, which we have done, to destroy all the infrastructure for their army and the Revolutionary Guard and then get out," Kennedy said. "And we are making remarkable progress toward that end."

Kennedy said he hopes the U.S.-Israeli operation will have undermined the religious zealots and military sufficiently so the people of Iran can rise up and take back their country.

"I do not believe the president will put boots on the ground," Kennedy said. "I do not believe he wants to stay there permanently.

"I do not believe he wanted to do this. He had no choice."