Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) joins Meet The Press for an exclusive interview to talk about the White House’s war powers amid escalating Iran tensions.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said on Sunday he thinks it is time for lawmakers to revisit ongoing conflicts the U.S. is engaged in, saying he doesn't think Congress meant to “bind another generation” when it authorized the war against Iraq in 2002.

“We really need to have a debate about whether we should still be in Iraq or in Afghanistan,” Paul said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There needs to be authorization from Congress.”



He was responding to a question from host Chuck Todd about the briefing that members of Congress received last week about President Donald Trump’s rationale for killing a top Iranian commander, Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, on Jan. 3. Paul said the explanations provided by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about an imminent threat from Iran were not entirely convincing.

“He thinks he can square the circle, but to me it seems pretty inconsistent,” Paul said of Pompeo.



British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce on Iran, Syria and the push for diplomacy.

The senator, who has often stood apart from his fellow Republicans on foreign policy, said the whole situation raised larger issues.



“To me, there’s a bigger question, too, though,” he told Todd. “This is what really infuriated me about the briefing. … They maintain both in private and in public that a vote by Congress in 2003 or 2002 to go after Saddam Hussein was a vote that now allows them to still be in Iraq and do whatever they want, including killing a foreign general from Iran.”