U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, shakes hands with state Rep. Andrew Gray, D-Anchorage, after his speech to the Alaska Legislature on Thursday, March 20, 2025. (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)
Less than an hour after President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. had bombed three Iranian nuclear facilities, Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan expressed strong support for the decision.
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In a statement posted on the social media platform X, Sullivan praised the president.
“The terrorist leaders of Iran have, in essence, been at war with the United States for decades — targeting, wounding and killing thousands of American service members for years,” Sullivan wrote.
As a former Marine Corps officer, Sullivan has consistently called for tough measures against Iran, especially for backing anti-American militias during the Iraq War. He also supported Trump’s 2020 order to assassinate an Iranian general in Iraq.
Both Sullivan and U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, had earlier endorsed Trump’s 2018 move to withdraw from the nuclear agreement designed to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
While international experts and Tulsi Gabbard—Trump’s Director of National Intelligence—have stated there’s no evidence Iran is building a nuclear weapon, Trump disagreed. Sullivan, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, recently indicated in committee discussions that he would support military action to stop Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
After the strike, he reaffirmed that stance.
“Making sure the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism never gets a nuclear weapon is part of the work of reestablishing deterrence against Iran, which was lost during the appeasement of the Biden Administration. This is difficult work, but critical for our national security. I fully support the President and his national security team in these critical efforts,” he wrote.
Murkowski waited several hours—until after Trump’s speech—to share her thoughts on the attack.
“President Trump’s decision to carry out focused strikes on Iran’s nuclear infrastructure makes clear that the international community will not tolerate a nuclear-armed Iran. I commend all those who executed this mission with precision and professionalism,” she posted on social media.
A spokesperson for Murkowski said a longer statement is expected on Sunday.
Rep. Nick Begich III, R-Alaska, spoke about Iran in an interview on Friday, just one day before the bombing.
He said he had no inside knowledge about what would unfold in the coming weeks, but emphasized Iran’s role in shaping the future.
“I think the ball is at this moment in Iran’s court: Do they want to be a member of the international community or not? And what’s been made clearly, not just by the United States, but many of our friends and allies around the world, is that we cannot allow them to become a nuclear-armed nation,” Begich said.
“We don’t need another nation, particularly a nation like Iran, to gain the ability to attack with nuclear weapons. We’ve already seen they have hypersonics and are willing to use those. A nuclear-tipped hypersonic would be very difficult to intercept, and it creates an asymmetric capability in a nation that has made quote, ‘Death to Israel’ and ‘Death to America,’ official policy. And when you have a nation saber-rattling like that on a regular basis, actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, it’s a dangerous situation, not just for Israel, not just for the United States, but for the entire world,” he said.
