Republican Sen. Rand Paul warned Sunday of unintended consequences of a U.S. military intervention in Iran after President Donald Trump threatened this week to bomb the country if it killed protesters demonstrating against its regime.
"The only problem I have with saying, 'Oh, we're going to bomb Iran,' is that sometimes it has the opposite effect," Paul told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
"So, when you bomb a country, then people tend to rally around their own flag. They tend to see this is the -- you know, a foreign country coming in and bombing us. And so, I don't think it always has that effect," Paul said.
"I wish, you know, the same as the president, I want success. I hope that the freedom movement survives," Paul added.
"Do we owe it to those protesters, do you believe, to help them?" Raddatz asked.
"I don't think it's the job of the American government to be involved with every freedom movement around the world," Paul responded, arguing that bombing Iran risks rallying Iranian citizens to the government's side.
"I think the protests are directed at the Ayatollah, justifiably so, and the best way is to encourage them and say that, of course, we would recognize a government that is a freedom-loving government that allows free elections, but bombing is not the answer," he said.
"Plus," Paul added, "there is the sticking point of the Constitution that we don't let presidents bomb countries just when they feel like it. They're supposed to ask the people through the Congress for permission."
Here are more highlights from Paul's interview:
Paul: This is a big debate, probably one of the most important debates we have in Congress. This isn't new. And I've told the president, frankly, it isn't about President Trump per se or solely. It's about, really, a struggle between the legislature and the president and who has the power.
Our Founding Fathers were unanimous from Hamilton to Jefferson that they placed that power to initiate or declare war in Congress because they wanted less war. They were tired of the perpetual wars of Europe between the royal families. They were tired of having too much power concentrated in the monarch. So, they divided that power up. And that's what the Founding Fathers wanted.
And then some people say, “Well, Congress is so feckless. They would never know how to get us started in war.” But when we were attacked at Pearl Harbor and we were attacked at 9/11, the vote by Congress was nearly unanimous. It's been when the dictate towards war or the reasons for war were less clear like Iraq that the votes was closer and it turns out that you know, many of us think the Iraq War was a mistake.
Raddatz: You said this week you'll do everything to stop any kind of military takeover of Greenland. The White House said that was not off the table. But do you actually think he would use military force or is there -- are we overreacting to that?
Paul: I would hope not. But let's say you wanted to buy Greenland -- and I'm not disputing that that might be something we might want, to buy Greenland. You don't get there by angering and denigrating the people who live there and saying, "We're going to march the Marines in and take if you don't sell it to us." It doesn't make them very willing to sell us. So really, if your goal is somehow, we're going to rattle the saber and then they're going to sell it to us, I think it's having the opposite effect.
I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone in Greenland for it, but you'd also be hard-pressed to find somebody in Washington who's for a military invasion on either side of the aisle. So, I think there'll be enough pressure to stop it. But the problem is, is they keep rattling the saber. They keep saying we're going to do this. We keep this in our armamentarium that we will, you know, reserve the right to invade Greenland.
And that gets back to the War Powers Act. That's why this debate so important because it's not just about Venezuela. It's about Venezuela. It's about Greenland. It's about Colombia. It's about Cuba. It's about whether or not the people get a say in whether we go to war.