GOP Rep. Liz Cheney reportedly thinks disputed intelligence warrants escalating Iran tensions

Rep. Liz Cheney is in favor of fighting Iran — (Image credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Republican and Democratic lawmakers warned President Trump on Wednesday "to avoid plunging the United States into another Iraq-like war in the Middle East, demanding more information about vague warnings that Iran might be planning attacks on U.S. personnel and facilities in the region," Politico reports. Trump himself is "frustrated with some of his top advisers, who he thinks could rush the United States into a military confrontation with Iran and shatter his long-standing pledge to withdraw from costly foreign wars," The Washington Post adds.

America's European allies are unconvinced by the Trump administration's warnings about new, credible threats from Iran. And the Pentagon uniformly backs deterrence over military conflict with Iran, the Post reports.

But at least one member of Congress appears to believe the warnings from Trump's top Iran hawks, National Security Adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and it's former Vice President Dick Cheney's daughter, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.). In a classified briefing Wednesday, Cheney "argued that the intelligence warranted an escalation against Iran," the Post reports, citing a person with knowledge of the briefing. "In response, Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton (Mass.) accused her of exaggerating the threat in what the person described as a 'very heated exchange.'"

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A Cheney spokesman told the Post that the congresswoman "will never comment on classified briefings and believes that any member or staffer who does puts the security of the nation at risk," and a Moulton representative declined to comment on the exchange. Moulton, a Iraq War vet who is running for president, did comment on the overall situation, though, saying "this is chicken hawks trying to drag us into a war with Iran just like they did 15 years ago in Iraq." One of the chief proponents of invading Iraq, of course, was Dick Cheney.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.