Mark Kelly urges Trump to find an exit in Iran war

Mark Kelly told Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan that the Trump administration was “flailing” in its war with Iran and that Donald Trump “has to try to figure out a way out of this.” The Arizona Democrat’s warning came during an Aug. 2 broadcast that CBS News framed around the Iran conflict and that also featured Republican Rep. Mike Turner.

Kelly’s latest appearance kept him in a familiar posture on national security, pressing for a more controlled exit strategy while avoiding language that would lock him into a maximalist line. Five months into the conflict, his call for “a way out” signaled concern not just about the fighting itself but about the political cost of an open-ended war for a president already under pressure on foreign policy and defense.

The senator has been using the same platform to challenge the administration on spending and readiness. On May 10, Kelly called the Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion Defense Department budget request “outrageous,” saying it was nearly the amount the rest of the world pays for its defense. That critique placed him inside a long-running debate over how much the United States should spend to sustain its military edge, and whether the White House was asking for more than voters would tolerate.

Kelly also leaned into the practical limits of U.S. force on June 14, when he joined Face the Nation from Phoenix, Arizona. In that interview, tied to the U.S.-Iran situation and the president’s social-media post about events that day, Kelly said “of course we have a munitions issue” despite then-Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s denial. The line put ammunition stockpiles and wartime capacity at the center of the argument, not just presidential rhetoric.

CBS News has also posted transcript pages for Kelly’s Nov. 23, 2025 and Aug. 18, 2024 appearances, showing how often the Arizona senator has been pulled into national conversations over foreign policy, defense spending and the mechanics of U.S. power. For a senator from a swing-border state, the pattern matters: Kelly has been arguing that Democrats can sound tough on security without sounding eager for escalation, a balance that will shape both his standing in Washington and the party’s appeal beyond it.