Marshall on Iran’s missile arsenal: ‘They have to be able to defend themselves’
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Roger Marshall conceded that Iran will be allowed to keep missiles for self-defense.
- Marshall has staunchly defended the Trump administration’s tentative peace deal with Iran.
- Democratic challengers hoping to unseat Marshall were quick to condemn his statements.
Republican U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall of Kansas took to cable news on Wednesday evening to defend the terms of a tentative peace deal with Iran that has sharply divided members of his own party.
In an appearance on CNN’s “The Source with Kaitlan Collins,” Marshall claimed that Iran had never previously agreed to abandon its aspirations for a nuclear weapon, even though that promise was made in the 2015 nuclear deal that President Donald Trump tore up in 2018.
Marshall also echoed Trump’s shifting rhetoric about Iran’s ballistic missile program — the elimination of which was identified by the White House this spring as a “clear and unchanging objective” of the war.
“Senator, are you OK with Iran having missiles?” Collins asked.
“I’m hesitating,” Marshall responded. “I certainly don’t want them to have long-distance missiles. I don’t want them to have nuclear-armed missiles. I would prefer they didn’t, but I don’t think that’s the key issue here. I think that they have to be able to defend themselves.”
The alternative would be “a forever war,” he told Collins.
“You’re never going to get them, short of boots on the ground, of surrendering everything, an unconditional agreement, if you will,” Marshall said.
U.S. intelligence indicates that despite the best efforts of the American and Israeli militaries, Iran retains substantial ballistic missile capabilities.
Earlier Wednesday, Trump told reporters in France that Iran couldn’t realistically be compelled to dismantle its missile systems when other countries in the Middle East have their own stockpiles. He downplayed the weapons’ significance, saying, “Missiles, they hurt a little location, but they don’t blow up the planet.”
Fierce debate over U.S.-Iran deal
Marshall touted the signing of a 14-point memorandum of understanding extending the ceasefire as a major national security victory that will allow spiking gas and fertilizer prices to return to pre-war levels.
The conflict began on Feb. 28 with joint US-Israeli strikes that killed Iran’s supreme leader and other top officials. The new agreement provides for the opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the lifting of sanctions on Iranian oil, as well as the creation of a $300 billion “reconstruction and economic development” fund for the war-torn country.
Iran hawks and an array of dissidents and mainstream voices within the Republican Party have cast doubt on whether the agreement secured satisfactory concessions from Iran. One Trump critic, outgoing GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, called it “the worst foreign policy blunder in decades,” writing in a social media post that “Reagan is rolling over in his grave.”
Unresolved details in the tentative peace plan are slated for further negotiation during the 60-day ceasefire extension, including whether Iran can continue enriching uranium and what will happen to the country’s cache of near-bomb-grade uranium buried under rubble from U.S. bombing last June.
“We have destroyed them militarily, economically,” Marshall said of Iran. “We have negotiated this from a position of strength.
“There’s more work to do. But if they don’t get it done in sixty days, they may become glass,” Marshall added, telling Collins that Trump won’t hesitate to resume hostilities if Iran refuses to agree to favorable terms — even as support for the war remains low and November’s midterm elections draw closer.
Marshall’s challengers weigh in
Marshall’s projection of confidence comes as 11 Democrats have filed to run for a chance to face him in the general election.
A chorus of those potential challengers seized on the first-term Republican’s CNN appearance to lambast his support for Trump’s handling of the war.
“Roger Marshall has spent months championing a war in Iran that has cost Americans over $100 billion in higher fuel prices and military spending,” the Rev. Adam Hamilton said in a statement.
“Now, he’s on TV supporting a plan that pays Iran $300 billion to rebuild their infrastructure and defending their right to build a military ‘able to defend themselves’ — the same military that has taken the lives of 13 Americans,” Hamilton continued.
Army veteran Noah Taylor said Marshall’s interview exemplifies his willingness to “push whatever D.C. talking point he is given for the day.”
“No principles. No consistency,” Taylor said in a statement. “I fought against the Taliban forces that Iran funded in Afghanistan. It is deeply concerning to me that our senator is defending Iran’s right to ballistic missiles to defend themselves after telling us that the country was an imminent threat.”
Wyandotte County real estate developer Erik Murray called Marshall “a liar who has abandoned Kansans.” In a statement, he referenced swirling speculation that Marshall might be offered a Trump administration appointment before November.
“He wants to avoid the election he’s going to lose this fall,” Murray said. “This performance is part of that unconstitutional attempt to run away from accountability.”
Brent Robertson, Marshall’s chief of staff, flatly denied that his boss would consider dropping out of the race after formally filing and receiving Trump’s endorsement.
“Senator Marshall will be running for reelection,” Robertson said in a statement.
This story was originally published June 18, 2026 at 2:37 PM.
