(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley says he’s “deeply saddened” to learn four Iowa-based Army Reservists were killed in Kuwait on Sunday by an Iranian drone, including a West Des Moines native, but Grassley says the mission of Operation Epic Fury remains clear. Grassley, a Republican, rejects arguments that President Trump should have better articulated to the American people why the U-S was launching large-scale military strikes on Iran. “Most of the criticism here in Washington is that he should have talked more about it ahead of time,” Grassley says, “but I think he didn’t want to detract from what he was hoping would be a successful diplomatic negotiation — that fell through.”

While it’s evident a commander-in-chief wouldn’t want to offer advance notice to enemies about a looming attack by going public, Grassley says the signs were clear. “He did continually move American military capabilities into the area,” Grassley says. “He did talk about the fact that there could be destructive action taken, but I don’t think he wanted to emphasize it to too great of an extent to think that he was interfering with the negotiations that are going on.” Grassley says he and his wife are praying for the loved ones of the American soldiers who’ve been killed, but he adds, the president has made it known why this operation is underway. “The administration has stated its objective for these military operations against Iran,” he says, “like destroying Iran’s missiles, annihilate its navy, cripple its terrorist proxies, and prevent the gaining of nuclear weapons.”

Grassley says he attended a classified briefing on Epic Fury on Tuesday, while as Senate president pro-tem, he says Trump did as required and sent him written notification within 48 hours of taking military action.