Senator Rand Paul calls for end to Middle East conflict, says U.S. was 'never in danger' of Iran invasion

Republican Senator Rand Paul called Operation Epic Fury a "war of choice" that "never should have started" in a recent appearance on Fox Business. "The war should never have begun. The sooner it ends, the better off America will be, the safer our soldiers will be," he said, opining that the bigger threat to national security was national debt. "Our greatest threat isn't Iran—it's our exploding national debt. We were never in danger of Iranian troops invading the U.S," Paul wrote on X, sharing a clip of the interview. 

Paul has been at loggerheads with the Trump administration on several issues, including a Bill to end the ongoing partial government lockdown. In a separate post, Paul wrote that "codifying DOGE cuts, reintroducing my Penny Plan (6% cuts/year to balance in 5 years), and fighting to lower the debt ceiling" are real solutions to tackle the debt crisis. "Over the last 5 months, the US has borrowed $1 TRILLION—that’s $50 billion every week. Our debt crisis is accelerating out of control," he wrote. 

Paul claimed that extending the conflict could turn Republican voters against the President. "I think it's not good for America, I think what’s gonna happen is that it's also gonna turn the public against the President and against the Republican Party. That's a secondary notion," he said, after explaining why he believes the national debt should be prioritised. "Most importantly, the decision on going to war has to be about whether or not it's worth risking American sons and daughters' lives," he said, adding that he feels the President is sounding more and more like he "doesn't want to go on for months and months."

While President Trump has acknowledged that American Forces have earned massive success in Operation Epic Fury, he has expressed his displeasure with the country's decision to appoint a new Supreme Leader. The White House has assured that the economic impact of the war will be temporary, with Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying that gas prices would see a significant dip once the conflict ends. In a more recent statement,  Trump indicated that the increase in war prices would benefit the U.S. "The United States is the largest Oil Producer in the World, by far, so when oil prices go up, we make a lot of money," he wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Most analysts agree that without an immediate end to hostilities, the Middle East crisis could push worldwide inflation. Compared to a month ago, the national average for a gallon of regular gas continues to hover around the $3.50 mark. As per a Reuters report, a prolonged conflict may see a sustained $100 crude price, adding 0.6 to 0.7 percentage points to global inflation.