Rep. Kelly largely supports U.S. actions in Iran
This is part two of a series written from a Tuesday conversation with Rep. Mike Kelly, R-16th, who represents Butler County.
As of Friday, March 13, Operation Epic Fury has resulted in 13 American military personnel killed in combat and noncombat related incidents. Thousands of Iranian civilians have died, with exact numbers varying by source. Multiple Iranian leaders have been assassinated and gas prices are on an upward trajectory.
Congressional Republicans, such as Butler’s representative, Mike Kelly, R-16th, have expressed support for the military operations due to decades of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism resulting in the deaths of American citizens, as well as others around the Middle East.
“If you go back 45 years and you look back at the number of American casualties and these horrific things that happened all by the state sponsor of terrorism that is Iran, they funded them all,” Kelly said in a Tuesday, March 10, interview with the Butler Eagle.
But while most media sources, including Wikipedia, call it the “Iran war,” or the “war in Iran,” Kelly insists, like other Republicans, the conflict is not a war.
“This combat exercise, this is not a war, and I don’t think our people should be talking about “the war in Iran.” It is not a war. It is combat action.”
The military operation, launched Feb. 28 by the U.S. and Israel, followed several years of heightened tension between the countries. It also comes after the Iranian government killed thousands of its citizens during protests against the regime. The Trump administration has said its main goals include destroying Iran’s nuclear capabilities and, eventually, regime change.
The war has since spread across the Middle East, with Iran launching missiles and drone attacks at Israel and other countries, including at U.S. military bases and foreign energy sources. According to the U.S. government, operations have destroyed much of Iran’s military capabilities.
Gas prices have been at the forefront of the news cycle. As of March 13, Butler County’s average gas price is $3.749, according to AAA.
During the sit-down conversation, Kelly pointed to foreign oil being impacted as one of several reasons for why the U.S. should rely more on its own resources for energy production as a way to lower costs. Oil from the Persian Gulf has to be shipped through the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranians are currently blocking.
Kelly has seen in his lifetime the gray areas around armed conflict and the decision-making that goes into it. When arguing the Iran conflict is not a true war, he points to the Vietnam War not being formally declared a war by Congress.
Referencing other conflicts — the American military conflict in the Middle East and the Vietnam War — Kelly said he understands the risks of getting involved in a war with Iran.
“I would like to seen it end sooner rather than later, but I think like everything, we went into Vietnam with the idea it would end sooner rather than later. We went into the Mideast thinking it would end sooner rather than later,” Kelly said. “How many presidents and how many fatalities along the way, before we finally said we’re going to get out of this mess?”
As the conflict escalates, fears around the country continue to mount over rising gas prices, further escalation and troop deployment.
While Kelly strongly supports the military operations, he also worries about the sons and daughters of families that will be put at risk fighting.
“I think the one thing we all deplore is any time any of our men and women in uniform don’t come home. That is truly sad and you’d like to think that those lives were not shed in vein,” Kelly said.
“If it were my son or my daughter, I wouldn’t want anything to happen to them,” he added. “And by the same token, when you talk to our military, they have the same feeling about the homeland. They say, ‘we’re willing to go and defend it.’”
