U.S. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy on Wednesday said it was 'welcome news' that there were no U.S. casualties after Iranian missiles were fired on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and defended Trump's decision to kill a top Iranian commander last week.
"From shooting down a drone, from attacking tankers, from killing a U.S. citizen to attacking our embassy, the president has made it very clear that if you kill an American, we will respond directly and we did and we are safer for it," McCarthy said.
The U.S. strike that killed Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani followed a sharp increase in U.S.-Iranian hostilities in Iraq since last week when pro-Iranian militias attacked the U.S. embassy in Baghdad after a deadly U.S. air raid on Kataib Hezbollah, founded by Muhandis.
Washington accused the group of an attack on an Iraqi military base that killed an American contractor.