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chris murphy
Democrats Cautioned Against Baiting Trump Back Into War With Iran With Criticism of Ceasefire Terms
"I’m grateful there’s a ceasefire and scores of innocent people didn’t die tonight," said Rep. Yassamin Ansari, the only Iranian-American member of Congress.
Apr 08, 2026
With a potential US nuclear attack against Iran's 93 million people averted by the ceasefire deal that was reached Tuesday evening, anti-war advocates including the only Iranian American member of Congress urged the Democratic Party to focus first and foremost on the fact that through diplomacy, President Donald Trump had been led away from the brink of disaster—instead of using the high-stakes moment to to score political points.
Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.) cautioned against members of either political party joking that Trump had "chickened out" after threatening the "whole civilization" of Iran on Tuesday, hours before the deadline he had set for Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which it effectively closed in retaliation for the unprovoked US-Israeli invasion of the country at the end of February.
Taking aim at the use of the acronym "TACO"—for "Trump Always Chickens Out," coined by a Financial Times columnist last year—Ansari issued a reminder that "the president was threatening genocide against 90 million Iranians."
"I’m grateful there’s a ceasefire and scores of innocent people didn’t die tonight," said Ansari.
Branko Marchetich of Jacobin called on Democratic leaders to take "their cues" from Ansari, adding, "There is nothing shameful about de-escalation and peace."
The congresswoman spoke out as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), whose name has been floated as a potential presidential candidate in 2028, expressed outrage at the 10-point plan the US, Israel, and Iran agreed upon as a starting point for negotiations over the next two weeks as Trump backed off his threat to annihilate Iran.
Al Jazeera's James Bays reported that the 10-point plan allows limited daily passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz for the next two weeks "in coordination with the Iranian armed forces; cancellation of sanctions against Iran; the US and Israel's acceptance of Iran's nuclear enrichment program; and full compensation for damages suffered by Iran during the war, to be secured through payments to Iran by ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Murphy called the deal's inclusion of Iranian control of the strait "cataclysmic" and "extraordinary," while author and attorney Chase Madar argued the outcome is "considerably less awful than what Trump was promising to do on Easter," when he pledged to attack civilian infrastructure across Iran.
"Let's hope Democrats don't bait Trump back into this war," said Ryan Grim of Drop Site News.
On social media and in a CNN interview, Murphy also railed against reports that the deal allows Iran to "keep their missiles," which the Trump administration had been intent on destroying—although the country was permitted to have ballistic missiles under the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump exited during his first term.
"Anyone who thinks Iran's having conventional ballistic missiles isn't acceptable—and this tweet suggests that's Murphy's position—shouldn't be president," said Robert Wright of NonZero Newsletter. "Murphy is shamelessly playing politics at a delicate moment in world history."
The senator rejected criticism from those who said he was being insufficiently laudatory of the ceasefire, arguing that being "glad if this ceasefire holds" is "not inconsistent with pointing out that we are worse off now than before the war started."
Iran's control of the strait is expected to result in higher global oil and gas prices and inflation; since it closed the key waterway over a month ago, US gas prices have risen above $4 per gallon.
On Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, joined Murphy in denouncing the deal that allows Iran to retain missiles and continue enriching uranium.
"Leading Senate foreign policy Dem attacks Trump for not achieving his goals... in his criminal war of aggression against Iran," said Erik Sperling of Just Foreign Policy. "The only acceptable goal is immediately ending the illegal war, Senator!"
Sperling noted that prior to the ceasefire deal, Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) had spoken with clarity on CNN about the need for Democratic lawmakers to refrain from "play[ing] politics" as the Trump administration engages in brinkmanship with Iran while continuing negotiations.
"There's too much at stake," said Khanna. "I'm going to say, 'Thank you, finally, diplomacy prevailed.'"
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'This Is Just Not How the Human Race Should Operate,' Says US Senator of Trump Threat
"Would you be able to live with yourself," asked Sen. Chris Murphy, "if you threatened your neighbor's child with murder in order to get your neighbor to behave the way you wanted?"
Apr 07, 2026
US Sen. Chris Murphy said Tuesday that President Donald Trump's genocidal threat to wipe Iran off the map doesn't just run afoul of domestic and international legal statutes—it is, the Democratic lawmaker argued, "fundamentally evil."
"This is a war crime, what the president is proposing," Murphy (Conn.) said in a two-minute video posted to social media after Trump threatened to destroy the "whole civilization" of Iran if it doesn't reach a deal with the US to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
"That is pure evil," the senator said of Trump's threat, which the president issued on his Truth Social platform. "But even if he doesn't go through with it, even if Iran agrees to a deal, this is just not how the human race should operate—compelling others' behavior under the threat of murder of innocent people."
"Would you be able to live with yourself," asked Murphy, "if you threatened your neighbor's child with murder in order to get your neighbor to behave the way you wanted?"
Watch:
In an age of creeping relativism, a universal moral law still exists.
Threatening to end an entire civilization of 90 million people in order to bend a nation’s conduct to your will is grossly morally wrong. It is evil. And we should say this loudly. pic.twitter.com/oRU1rVgLrv
— Chris Murphy 🟧 (@ChrisMurphyCT) April 7, 2026
Trump's threat to escalate his illegal assault by waging total war on Iranian society sparked a wave of condemnations from lawmakers, legal scholars, and human rights advocates who demanded immediate deescalation and a lasting end to the conflict. The threat against the nation of more than 90 million people also prompted growing calls for the US president's removal from office.
But Trump's genocidal remarks were also seen as the most glaring evidence yet of the dire threat the US president and his enablers pose to all of humanity.
"This is a nightmare scenario," said US Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), one of two Iranian Americans in Congress. "It's apocalyptic."
Rep. Ansari: "Donald Trump is trying to normalize language that essentially threatening genocide, threatening the potential use of nuclear weapons ... how is nobody trying to restrain this madman who is trying to get all of us killed. We have mechanisms to restrain him that are… pic.twitter.com/IVvIYlYvbr
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 7, 2026
US Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) said in a statement that "with each passing day, it becomes increasingly apparent that Donald Trump is unstable and a clear and present danger, not just to the American people but to the world."
"He must be removed from office before he causes incalculable and unfathomable harm," Markey added. "His threats cannot be dismissed as mere rhetoric. This is as grave a moment as the world has faced in the nuclear era.”
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'Singularly Unqualified' Hegseth Executes Purge of Top Military Brass as Iran War Spirals Out of Control
Sen. Chris Murphy, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the ousted generals were likely “telling Hegseth his Iran war plans are unworkable, disastrous, and deadly.”
Apr 03, 2026
As President Donald Trump’s war in Iran goes further off the rails, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth carried out a “purge” of US Army leadership on Thursday, ousting its most senior general and two other top officers and reportedly leaving many senior officials stunned.
The Pentagon has not provided an official explanation for the sudden firing of Army Chief of Staff General Randy George, who was jettisoned along with another four-star general, David Hodne, and Major General William Green Jr., the top Army chaplain. But speculation was rampant Thursday as the White House continued to insist its war on Iran is going as planned.
Tom Nichols wrote for The Atlantic on Thursday that those dismissed were likely casualties of “Hegseth’s vindictive struggles with the Army... as he struggles in a job for which he remains singularly unqualified.”
Nichols suggested the latest firings were part of an effort to eliminate allies of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll, who has reportedly pushed back against Hegseth's attempt to enforce rigid ideological conformity and excise what he views as "wokeness" from the military.
Most recently, Driscoll reportedly objected to Hegseth's demands that he remove four Army officers—two Black men and two women—from a list of those to be promoted to brigadier general, while allowing the other mostly white male officers to be promoted.
NBC reported on Thursday that they were among more than a dozen Black and female officers that Hegseth has attempted to block from advancement across the four branches of the military.
Just before his firing, George—once an aide to former President Joe Biden's Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin—had reportedly asked to meet with Hegseth about his demotions of the four Army officers, but Hegseth refused.
The Atlantic reported that Driscoll, who has been rumored as a possible replacement for Hegseth amid embarrassing bungles like last year's "Signalgate" scandal, could be shown the door next.
Rep. Pat Ryan (D-NY), a US Army combat veteran who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, described George as "a Patriot who has served our nation honorably and bravely for decades" and said his firing was "a huge loss for our Army and our country."
He added that "Hegseth and Trump firing the highest ranking Army officer, in the middle of a war they started, shows you exactly where their priorities are."
While these sorts of petty grudge matches and power struggles have been a hallmark of Hegseth's term at Defense, Nichols remarked that "dumping the Army chief of staff in the middle of a war, without explanation, is a reckless move even by Hegseth’s standards."
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, theorizes that Hegseth's purge—which is one of the biggest wartime leadership shakeups in recent memory—did not happen in spite of the Iran war, but because of it.
According to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who was quoted by TIME on Thursday, Trump's inner circle—including Hegseth and other military and foreign policy officials—has formed a sort of information bubble around the president, giving him a “rose-colored view” of the war, even as it grows more unpopular by the day with the American public.
The high-level firings come as Trump and Hegseth are beginning what they said would be a multi-week campaign of bombing Iran “back to the Stone Ages.”
Hegseth has also continued to float the possible deployment of ground troops, potentially to invade and occupy critical strategic areas, like Iran's oil export hub Kharg Island, which analysts have warned would be unworkable and put thousands of US troops in harm's way.
"It's likely that experienced generals are telling Hegseth his Iran war plans are unworkable, disastrous, and deadly," Murphy said.
"Also, Hegseth is firing a ton of experienced generals right now."
According to Jennifer Griffin, the Chief National Security Correspondent for Fox News, Hegseth’s most recent firings “[add] to a long list of Secretary Hegseth asking senior military officers to step down with no reason given,” including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., and Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander of US Southern Command, both of whom were also Black men.
Dan Lamothe, a military affairs correspondent for The Washington Post, added that Hegseth has now almost totally remade the Joint Chiefs of Staff since taking over as defense secretary and that only two original members, Gen. Eric Smith of the Marine Corps and Gen. Chance Saltzman of the Space Force, remain from the original team.
"The American people deserve to know why so many of their top officers are being tossed out of their jobs," Nichols said.
Noting the defense secretary’s penchant for secrecy, he suggested that now that George and other senior officers pushed out by Hegseth are considered civilians, "maybe they can step forward and tell their fellow citizens what on Earth is going on in Hegseth’s Pentagon.“
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