Rep. Scott Perry: Trump’s Iran Strikes Deliver Decisive Blow Against Islamic Extremism

Sunday, March 1, 2026 – Rep. Scott Perry, R-Pa., stated Sunday that President Donald Trump’s recent series of coordinated strikes against Iran have decisively addressed the threat posed by Tehran, calling the operation “devastating and long overdue.”

In an interview with Carl Higbie during special coverage of U.S.-Israeli operations on Iran, Perry addressed reports of roughly 900 simultaneous strikes executed by multiple forces. Perry described Iran as “just lashing out any way that it can,” adding that the country “really doesn’t have a plan” and that “a lot of the leadership has been decapitated.”

Perry noted that the apparent loss of top Iranian leaders has likely left lower-level military operators making critical targeting decisions in an attempt to maintain control. “You probably have lower-tier operators, military operators pushing buttons and making selections, target selections, etc., in some kind of attempt to maintain their position in control,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to work.”

He compared the scale of the operation to World War II bombing campaigns: “You talk about the level and magnitude of the strike over the last couple of days. It kind of makes me think of World War II, where we literally sent thousands of bombers into Germany at one time. The sky was dark with Allied aircraft.”

Perry emphasized that the strikes are “devastating and are going to continue to be devastating.” He described the broader goal as empowering the Iranian people to reclaim their country and end what he called decades of extremism: “This is all to set up the Iranian people to take control of their country. And [to end] this 47-year reign of Islamic terror, not only in the region but around the globe.”

Perry also countered criticism from Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., who suggested Trump lacked a plan and bore responsibility for escalating tensions. “It’s breathtaking,” Perry said, pointing to past Democratic administrations. “Don’t leave out the Barack Obama Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which allowed nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles to be produced. That’s literally what it did.”

Perry further referenced Iranian-supplied weapons used against U.S. troops in Iraq: “The explosive form penetrators that came out of Iran killed thousands of our uniformed service members.”

“Unfortunately, Mark Kelly, the Democrat Party, the left is going to assign blame to the people that are trying to fix this situation as opposed to assigning appropriate blame to the Islamist extremists that have taken over a country and tried to impose their will on the entire world,” Perry said. “Thank God that somebody has had the guts to finally solve this equation. And that person is Donald J. Trump.”

Addressing calls for a congressional vote on military action, Perry asserted that Trump is acting within his legal authority: “Of course, the president is fully within his legal rights to do what he’s doing right now. We have to make decisions based on reality, not what we wish were true.”