Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Thursday that he was “delighted” that so many people were confused by what President Donald Trump’s administration meant when it put Iran “on notice.”
In an interview with MSNBC’s Katy Tur, Barrasso was asked about National Security Advisor Gen. Michael Flynn’s comment Wednesday that “we are officially putting Iran on notice,” after it tested a ballistic missile. White House press secretary Sean Spicer failed to clarify the comment on Thursday in his press briefing.
“This is certainly not a red line, but I’m just a little confused, I think a lot of people are confused in the country about exactly what ‘on notice’ means,” Tur told Barrasso.
“I’m delighted you are confused and so many others are confused. I hope the Iranians are confused as well,” he said. “They don’t know what it means, the Iranians don’t know what it means so they’re going have to be more more careful in their belligerent actions than they were when Barack Obama was in the White House.”
Earlier in the exchange, Barrasso said he supported Trump’s apparent strategy to keep his military and diplomatic positions a secret, saying that Trump’s administration “will never broadcast to the enemy what the plans are or are not.”
“One of the things that Barack Obama did so poorly is tell what he would or would not do,” he added. “Donald Trump and his administration will never broadcast to the enemy what the plans are or are not. Nothing is off the table. And Iran needs to get used to that. Iran has been violating the UN agreement with regard to their ballistic tests. Those continue. What they’re used to doing is being able to violate. They have not been complying with the agreement and the president Obama wasn’t enforcing it. Things are now going to be enforced.”
Earlier on Thursday, Trump told a scrum of reporters in the White House that “honestly, nothing is off the table,” when asked about potential military action against Iran.
