Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana said this week that classified American intelligence he has personally reviewed showed Iran was building up its missile stockpile with the explicit intent of threatening Europe and the Middle East once it felt strong enough to restart its nuclear weapons program.

Speaking on Fox Business Network's show with Larry Kudlow, Kennedy said the intelligence showed Iran was producing 200 to 600 missiles a month, with plans to stockpile enough that when it restarted its nuclear program, it would threaten to destroy the entire Middle East and strike London, Paris, and Berlin if anyone tried to stop it.

The senator framed the American strikes on Iran, carried out alongside Israel, as a war-ending rather than a war-starting decision. According to Kennedy, the president had no choice but to act, since he was not trying to start a war but to stop one.