GOP senator says he backs ‘anything that takes out the mullahs’ but urges ‘articulation of strategy’ for Iran

By AP 21 March 2026, 4:46 pm

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US Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, descends an stairwell after a vote at the Capitol, March 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Tom Brenner)

US President Donald Trump took the United States to war without a vote of support from Congress, but lawmakers are increasingly questioning when, how and at what cost the war with Iran will come to an end.

“The real question is: What ultimately are we trying to accomplish?” Senator Thom Tillis, a Republican from North Carolina, tells The Associated Press. “I generally support anything that takes out the mullahs,” he says. “But at the end of the day, there has to be a kind of strategic articulation of the strategy, what our objectives are.”