House Speaker Mike Johnson and Kentucky Republican Sen. Mitch McConnell have come out in support of President Donald Trump is doing in Iran — even amid Trump’s online statements threatening to practically wipe out Iran.

“They’ve been at war with us for 47 years,” McConnell said. “They’ve killed Americans. They’ve killed Israelis.

They’ve killed throughout the Middle East. They’re bad guys. ”

McConnell said he doesn’t know how the conflict in Iran will end. However, he stated that the country’s capabilities have “significantly diminished. ”

When Pope Leo XIV criticized the Iran war on Wednesday, Johnson used centuries old Christian theological teachings to defend the Trump administration’s strikes against Tehran, calling them a “just war.”
When Pope Leo XIV criticized the Iran war on Wednesday, Johnson used centuries-old Christian theological teachings to defend the Trump administration’s strikes against Tehran, calling them a “just war. ”

President Trump has been fighting with the first American pope for days, saying that he is “weak on crime” and backs Iran having nuclear weapons. Leo upset Trump by criticizing the U. S.

-led strikes on Iran in a way that wasn’t obvious. During a Palm Sunday sermon, he said that Jesus “does not listen to the prayers of those who wage war. ”

But on Tuesday, Vice President JD Vance spoke out against what the pope said in public. He told a crowd at an event hosted by the conservative group Turning Point USA that there was a “more than 1,000-year tradition of just war theory” that raised “disagreements” about whether some wars are morally justifiable.

You’ve got to make sure it’s anchored in the truth.”
Just war theory is a long-standing moral framework utilized in international relations and theology, with origins in Christian doctrine. Saint Augustine, a Roman-era theologian who had an impact on modern philosophy, said that war could be justified to keep the peace in the long run, but that it shouldn’t be started first.

Johnson, a devout Southern Baptist, talked to reporters on Wednesday morning about Trump’s fight with the pope and brought up just war theory.

The top Republican in the House said he was “a little bit taken aback” by Leo’s comments about whether Jesus hears the prayers of people who are at war
He said, “It’s a very well-settled matter of Christian theology. ” “There’s a doctrine called the just war doctrine. ”

Johnson said that what Trump and Vance said shows that they “really understand” what’s at stake in the Iran conflict.

“The fact that you had the nation that was the largest sponsor of terrorism now having had that ability taken away from them, that means potentially millions of innocent people will be able to keep their lives and not get killed by terrorists — that’s a good thing,” Johnson said.

Johnson told reporters he didn’t want to criticize the pope and that he believed a pontiff or religious leader could say anything they wanted, but he suggested Leo should have expected a retort from the president
“If you wade into political waters, I think you should expect some political response,” he said. “I would just say that these are matters that people of good faith and good sense can debate and think through, and I think that’s what that reflected. ”

The Trump administration has said that its war in Iran is meant to stop the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism and make sure that Tehran can’t make nuclear weapons that they say would threaten the region.

Navy has blocked Iranian ports on the important Strait of Hormuz this week at the president’s request
Navy has blocked Iranian ports on the important Strait of Hormuz this week at the president’s request. The White House wants to put pressure on Tehran to find a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

At the same time, Trump has stepped up his attacks on the pope by posting another rant on his social media site, Truth Social.

“Will someone please tell Pope Leo that Iran has killed at least 42,000 innocent, completely unarmed protesters in the last two months, and that for Iran to have a Nuclear Bomb is absolutely unacceptable,” he wrote.