ISTANBUL

As the conflict between Iran and Israel hits its seventh day, US Senate Republicans are rallying behind President Donald Trump’s apparent wait-and-see approach to potential US involvement – a stance dividing his faithful MAGA base but drawing praise on Capitol Hill.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Trump said he had not yet decided whether to intervene militarily, adding: “I’d make the decision one second before.”

That ambiguity – whether deliberate or coming from Trump’s habit of being sometimes mercurial and impulsive – drew praise from Republican lawmakers, who largely echoed his warnings against allowing Iran to develop a nuclear weapon, according to ABC News.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime defense hawk, backed Trump’s potential use of force if diplomacy fails. “Either you want them to have a nuclear weapon, or you don’t,” he said. “And if you don’t, if diplomacy fails, you use force.”

Sen. John Kennedy, another Republican, framed the threat in stark terms: “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon, or the ability to deliver a nuclear warhead, period.” He called his support for Trump on the matter “unconditional.”

Sen. Mike Rounds added that while Israel may be capable of neutralizing the threat alone, US military options should remain “available to the president in exercising his authority as the commander-in-chief.”

Even as some grassroots conservatives caution against interventionism, Republican senators like Kevin Cramer appeared untroubled.

“Iran’s made that really crystal clear. They pledged to wipe out the United States of America,” he said. “I prefer preemptive prevention of war rather than having to end one after it gets to our soil.”

Cramer applauded Trump’s “strategic” vagueness, calling it “brilliant.” “It’d be crazy for the president to give a warning … The element of surprise is maintained by an answer that doesn’t tell you what he’s going to do.”

Despite bipartisan agreement that Congress should be involved in any decision to use force, Republicans were less insistent. “We certainly don’t have time … for Congress to sit and cogitate for six or eight months,” Kennedy said.

Democrats, however, warned against bypassing constitutional checks, as only Congress can make a declaration of war.

“At some point, the president must come to Congress if there is to be active, kinetic military involvement that constitutes war,” said Sen. Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat. “That’s the Constitution.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, an outspoken Democrat, urged restraint: “We don’t need to escalate in Iran. That doesn’t make anyone in the Middle East safer, and it certainly doesn’t make the United States any safer right now. The role of the United States should be to help de-escalate, to push for negotiations, not to try to set more things afire.”