Governor Wes Moore slams Trump’s military operations in Iran: ‘I lost friends because of wars like these’

“I’m just seeing a whole series of contradictions,” Moore told theGrio of President Trump’s justification for the widening war in the Middle East.

Governor Wes Moore blasted President Donald Trump‘s decision to engage in military strikes against Iran, which has resulted in a widening war in the Middle East, rising oil prices and a sinking stock market.

“As someone who has fought in one of these regime change wars, and someone who knows how difficult these wars are–I lost friends because of wars like these–I’m skeptical, and I don’t think that this administration has really given us anything to make me feel more confident,” the Maryland governor and Army veteran told theGrio during a phone interview on Thursday.

Moore said that, thus far, President Trump and senior administration officials have given contradictory statements about the supposed imminent threat Iran posed to the United States to justify unilateral strikes without approval from Congress.

“I’m just seeing a whole series of contradictions where we’re told months ago that the nuclear program was obliterated, but now we had to act immediately…because now we’re supposed to believe that attack was imminent. A coalition of either international partners or even getting the American people to [buy in] on, or Congress, was not there,” said the 47-year-old governor.

As a former member of the Armed Forces, Moore told theGrio, “The thing that we hope for when I joined the military was an expectation that military force would only be used when (a) we knew it was going to be a last resort, (b) when we actually knew the plan and what is the exit strategy, and what is the what is the reasoning, and (c) when we knew that a coalition was being built that would support our efforts.”

He added, “I have not seen any of those things from this operation that we’re seeing right now.”

The Trump administration has also been rebuked for remarks about the six military service members who have died as a result of the joint U.S.-Israeli military operations in Iran. Of the casualties, Trump said, “That’s the way it is,” and that there would “likely be more.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth complained that the press was covering the military deaths as “front-page news” and accused outlets of trying to make the president “look bad.”

Gov. Moore said of the losses of life, “My heart just continues to break for these service members who we lost, and the ones who were the wounded in actions as well, and their family members.”

On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives rejected a war powers resolution to rein in the U.S.’s military operations, a day after the U.S. Senate did the same.

Moore warned, “We’re just continuing to watch a completely unchecked executive.” He explained, “We’ve seen how his trade policy has been deemed by the Supreme Court illegal. We have seen how he has now conducted military operations by blowing up ships in the sea, and now we are now a nation at war with Iran, and there’s been no checks.”

The rumored 2028 presidential candidate said the U.S. needs a Congress with a “spine” that “actually understands that there other branches of government besides the executive branch.”

The governor continued, “I’m not sure if anyone, even in the administration, could explain their foreign policy or the legality.”