By Emmanuel Bobby
House Speaker Mike Johnson and several other leading Republicans said Tuesday that the United States should not take on a nation-building role in Iran, a day after President Donald Trump described the military operation there as “the beginning of building a new country.”
Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, said he does not support the idea of the U.S. attempting to rebuild or restructure Iran’s government after the conflict.
“I don’t support nation-building,” Johnson said during a fireside discussion with reporters at House Republicans’ annual policy conference in South Florida. “I don’t think it’s our role.”
He emphasized that while the United States plays a critical role globally, its mission should not involve large-scale political reconstruction efforts abroad.
“America has a very important role to play in the world,” Johnson said, describing the country as a defender of freedom and liberty. “But does that mean we should be intervening everywhere around the world and nation-building and doing all these other endeavors? No, because we don’t have the resources or the appetite to do that.”
“Our responsibility, in my view, is to project peace through strength,” he added.
Johnson echoed earlier comments by Trump encouraging Iranians to take control of their own government following the U.S. strikes that began late last month.
“When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take,” Trump said in a video message released after the first round of attacks.
Speaking at the Republican retreat held at Trump National Doral Miami, Johnson said the future of Iran should ultimately be decided by its own people.
“The Iranian people need to rise up, as the president has tried to encourage,” Johnson told reporters. “They need to take that opportunity and secure that for themselves. I’m sure 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’s comments come amid mixed signals from Trump about the scope of the U.S. mission in Iran. While addressing House Republicans at the conference Monday, the president described the war as “a little excursion” and said the mission was largely complete. At the same time, he warned that Iran would face “death, fire and fury” if it attempted to block oil tankers traveling through the Strait of Hormuz.
Representative Mike McCaul of Texas, the former chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, also cautioned against sending American troops to fight on the ground in Iran.
“Putting U.S. boots on the ground would be a mistake,” McCaul said at the conference.
Trump has not ruled out deploying ground forces, and reports last week indicated that he had privately expressed interest in potentially sending some troops to Iran.
When asked whether the U.S. should help rebuild Iran after the war, McCaul responded bluntly: “We’re not good at it. We’re good at breaking things. We’re not good at rebuilding them.”
Johnson was also asked about reports that Russia may have been sharing intelligence with Iran about the locations of U.S. forces in the Middle East. He said he had not been briefed on the matter but suggested that if the reports were accurate, Congress could pursue tougher sanctions against Moscow.
“I’ve been an advocate for strong sanctions on Russia for a long time,” Johnson said. “If there’s a new and provocative action like this, that would probably be something Congress would be very interested in acting upon.”
“We have to make it so painful for Vladimir Putin that he finally puts down the weapons,” he added.
Meanwhile, Trump has recently demanded that Congress pass the SAVE America Act, a voting bill that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote nationwide. He has said he will refuse to sign other legislation until the bill reaches his desk.
The House has already passed one version of the legislation, but Trump now wants additional provisions added, including restrictions on transgender athletes participating in women’s sports and limits on gender transition procedures for minors.
Asked whether Trump’s stance could stall legislative work in Congress, Johnson dismissed the idea.
“It’s not the end of legislating,” he said. “I’ll talk with him about that. We’ll work with him.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota, who faces challenges passing the bill in the Senate, suggested that Johnson could take up the legislation again in the House to include the president’s new demands.
When informed of Thune’s comment, Johnson responded with a lighthearted warning.
“He said that? All right,” Johnson said. “Be careful what you ask for.”
Looking ahead to the upcoming midterm elections, Republicans face historical trends that often see the party controlling the White House lose seats in Congress. Johnson currently presides over an extremely narrow one-vote majority in the House, giving Democrats a strong opportunity to reclaim control in November.
Despite the odds, Johnson expressed confidence that Republicans would defy historical trends.
“There’s no riding off into the sunset; there’s too much to do,” he said when asked whether he would consider serving as minority leader if Republicans lose control of the House.
“They’ve written my political epitaph 20 times,” Johnson added. “They said I wouldn’t last three weeks. Then three months. Now we’re almost two and a half years in as speaker.”
He pointed to past predictions that Republicans would lose their majority and fail to pass major legislation.
“I don’t buy it. I don’t believe it,” Johnson said. “I look straight ahead. I focus on the vision and the goal, and we get it done every single time.”
“History is going to be different this time,” he said. “We’re going to defy the trend.”
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