John Fetterman, the Democratic Senator from Pennsylvania, has consistently upheld the right of Israel to defend itself, using whatever means the IDF deems appropriate, and has vocally supported the embattled Jewish state more than any other senator from either party. He’s a curious fellow, often seen wearing his shorts and pullovers, a 6’8” apparition as he lopes along through the Senate Office Building. On the walls just outside his office, he has posted photographs of the Israeli hostages. Now he has spoken out about the Trump administration’s apparent willingness to negotiate with the masters of deception in Tehran over their nuclear program; he doesn’t think negotiations will do more than allow Tehran to stall for time, as it continues to race forward with its enrichment of uranium to a level of 60% purity, one step below weapons-grade. He thinks Witkoff should be called home, and the American military should be working with the IDF to help plan an attack on Iran’s nuclear program that should take place soon, while Iran still remains vulnerable after Israel’s raid on October 26 that destroyed all of its aerial defenses.
More on Senator Fetterman’s views can be found here: “‘Waste That S—t’: In Interview With Free Beacon, Fetterman Tells Trump To Dump Iran Talks and Destroy Tehran’s Nuclear Facilities,” by Jon Levine, Washington Free Beacon, April 23, 2025:
Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.) says the Trump administration should drop nuclear negotiations with Iran and finish off the country’s nuclear facilities with a military strike.
“Waste that s—t,” the Pennsylvania Democrat told the Washington Free Beacon in an interview on Wednesday. “You’re never going to be able to negotiate with that kind of regime that has been destabilizing the region for decades already, and now we have an incredible window, I believe, to do that, to strike and destroy Iran’s nuclear facilities.”
Fetterman dismissed the foreign policy experts who warn that striking Iran would lead to the outbreak of a regional war. “And remember, all of these so-called experts were all wrong,” he said. “You know, they’ve been saying for years and years Hezbollah was the ultimate badass that kept Israel in check, and we can’t move on anything beyond that.”
As it turned out, Fetterman said, the Iranian proxy group “couldn’t fight for s—t. And Hamas, literally, are just a bunch of tunnel rats with junkie rockets in the back of a Toyota truck. And now the Houthis have been effectively neutered as well. So what’s left? You have Iran, and they have a nuclear facility, and it’s clearly only for weapons.”
Fetterman’s remarks come as the Trump administration barrels forward with negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program that have so far been defined by mixed messages. Going into the talks, the administration said any deal would require Tehran to dismantle its nuclear program. Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff later suggested a deal could allow Iran to enrich uranium up to a certain level. Then he walked back that walk-back, saying Iran must agree to “stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment” to ink a deal….
Taking a more muscular approach to Iran has prompted criticism from the isolationist wings of Trump’s movement, like Tucker Carlson and Candace Owens, who have warned it could lead to open war with Iran.
“It’s not going to turn into World War III,” Fetterman said, dismissing the worries. “It’s the acknowledgment that we’ll never have a better opportunity.”
Senator Fetterman’s is the voice of reason. There is no reason to trust any commitments that Iran might make — or pretend to. It can hide at least some of the uranium it has already enriched to a 60% level. Meanwhile, it is stalling for time both to enrich more uranium, as well as to rebuild its ballistic missile factories that the IDF destroyed, and most importantly, to try to rebuild the anti-missile defenses to replace those that Israel destroyed on October 26, 2024. Fetterman knows that such an attack, to be successful, needs to take place soon: “we’ll never have a better opportunity.” He also knows that if Iran’s nuclear program is destroyed, that will not end with the scare scenario offered by some opponents of an attack on Iran causing a “World War III,” but quite the reverse – the destruction of Iran’s nuclear program would make a major war by the Islamic Republic impossible. With its aerial defenses destroyed, Israeli planes would rule the Iranian skies. Once the nuclear facilities are destroyed, Israel could conduct airstrikes on weapons warehouses virtually unopposed. And all this destruction could lead to a popular uprising, once the Iranians — two-thirds of whom now oppose the regime — realize that their government wasted tens of billions of dollars on a nuclear program that has just been reduced to rubble. Iran can’t fight a “World War III” — it doesn’t even have the support of its fellow Muslims — the Sunnis who make up 85-90% of the world’s Muslim population, who despise and fear the Shia’ regime in Tehran. They would be delighted to see Iran brought low, deprived of its nuclear program, so that it is no longer a threat to the Sunni regimes in the region.
Fetterman is the first senator of either party to call for an end to the current negotiations with Iran and for an attack on Iran’s nuclear program, either by Israel alone (but with America having supplied both the 30,000-pound bunker buster bombs, and the B-2 Spirit bombers needed to carry them, presumably to be piloted by Israelis who have been, or are about to be, trained to fly them), or in a joint operation by the militaries of Israel and America.
As for John Fetterman, that rara avis, he should be supported to the hilt. He’s a Daniel come to judgment.
Taffy says
Iran already has enough 60% enriched U-235 and probably enough 90% enriched U-235 to make one or two bombs.
During WWII, it took Oak Ridge about 2 years to make enough 90% pure U-235 for “Little Boy,” the Hiroshima bomb. The Trinity bomb (“Gadget”) and the Nagasaki bomb (“Fat man”) were Plutonium-235 designs albeit with different detonation unit ion mechanisms)”
Iran is enriching its uranium with cascaded high-g centrifuges , which is orders of magnitude more efficient than both the diffusion method and the electromagnetic separation methods to enrich the uranium used for Little Boy in Oak Ridge. What took Oak Ridge two years SHOULD take Iran 2 weeks to a month to accomplish. Although Stuxnit was the most publicized, other Israeli interventions have partially crippled Iran’s U-235 production. But, without any solid proof, just an educated guess, I believe that Iran has already reached the enrichment goal for two bombs. Assembling it into a deliverable bomb is another thing.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
It’s amazing what a couple of strokes would do to a person. Although I do wish he’d dress more appropriately, at least on official occasions, like Senate meetings, the Presidential inauguration and when meeting foreign leaders like Netanyahu
Gov Shapiro could learn from him. Incidentally, I was surprised to find out after googling that the senator is not Jewish
Wellington says
I agree with you, Infidel, about Fetterman’s “sartorial preferences” but right now he’s probably the sanest Democrat in Congress, a throwback ideologically to many Democrats of old, like Robert Casey Sr., Governor of Pennsylvania from 1987-1995, and who was denied speaking at the national Democratic convention in 1992 PRECISELY because the Governor was pro-life.
Roberts Casey Jr., a pale imitation of his father, just last November thankfully lost to Dave McCormick after three non-productive Senatorial terms, McCormick thus being PA’s newest Senator, and so now Pennsylvania is one of the very few states whose two Senators do not come from the same major political party.
So, even over thirty years ago the Democratic Party was going into totalitarian mode and it’s only gotten worse since then. Fetterman represents a break from this Democratic group-think and I applaud him for it though I still wish he would leave the Democratic Party and register as an Independent who caucuses with the Republicans as Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Angus King of Maine do with the Democrats. If Fetterman did this, I would strongly encourage the Republican Party in Pennsylvania come 2028 not to run any Republican against Fetterman—and if this occurred I think Fetterman would win in a landslide. Just saying.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I’ve read that he still supports open borders and loose immigration rules, so all is not well w/ him. Yeah, he’s great on Israel and a few other things, but there is still a long way for him to go before he can be considered a Centrist
tgusa says
A man who had a stroke is the voice of reason within the democrat party. It may very well be that behind closed doors democrats are pro Iranian bomb. That makes perfect sense for whatever insane reason they choose to validate that stance.
The latest nutcase issue among democrats involves judges being arrested for criminal offenses. After years of dems shouting “no one is above the law” all of a sudden arresting a judge that has committed a crime is fascism. Within the democrat party even the judges are criminals. No wonder they are soft on crime.
St Croix says
Tucker and Owens. BAH!
They just want the Jews killed, I’m sorry. They both hate Israel. I’m not sure how they became so weird, both of them, but they no longer have the cred they were once accorded.
Fetterman is the bigger man than Trump on this.
Witkoff has been pushing the same ploys as the democrats and others who are promoting an antisemitic position: two states. Now, the capper, NEGOCIATING with Iran! Like Obama’s nuclear deal!?
What can Pres. Trump be THINKING? Let’s hope he gets his brain in gear quickly on this, or I will start to suspect he is the same as the others regarding Israel. A two-state solution is not a solution. It’s an existential threat to the state of Israel.
Now this Iranian nuclear bomb threat being allowed to go on and on and on. WItkoff and the president cannot be that stupid, can they? Because it’s starting to look that way. In which case I’ll have to admit Francisco Gil-White is right.
Ralph says
As Homer said, “Clothes make the man”? Mostly, Homer was correct, but in Senator Fetterman’s attire I must disagree. Fetterman indeed is an “odd duck” but one should look past his outer trappings and focus on the substance of what he says. I never imagined that I’d agree strongly with the Senator, but even a stopped clock is right twice a day. I fully support the Senator re Israel and there have been other instance where he voiced my sentiments. I hope he has a full recovery from his medical problems.
elsbel5 says
I thank Sen. Fetterman. I stand with Israel.
gravenimage says
John Fetterman, a Democratic Voice of Sanity, on Dealing with Iran
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Good to hear–kudos to him!