A CNN host threw President Donald Trump's words in a Republican's face on Thursday as he tried to defend the president's decision to coordinate a bombing campaign against Iran. CNN's Kasie Hunt and Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) got into a heated exchange on "The Arena" while discussing the recent bombing strikes in Iran. Jordan argued that the strikes were necessary because the Iranian regime had killed American military troops as well as Iranian citizens. He also argued that Trump was trying to ensure that Iran would never develop a nuclear weapon, even though Trump claimed last year that the U.S. had "completely obliterated" Iran's nuclear facilities in a different series of strikes. Hunt reminded Jordan that Trump had promised on the campaign trail not to start any new wars. She also played a few clips of Trump arguing that the U.S. should not have invaded Iraq in 2003 because it "destabilized the Middle East" and other claims that appear to undercut his current rationale for bombing Iran. "'I'm not going to start a war; I'm going to stop wars,'" Hunt said, repeating a claim that CNN included in its supercut of Trump's comments. "How is that an example of President Trump doing what he said he was going to do?""Kasie, he tried to!" Jordan snapped back. He added that Trump's special envoy Steve Witkoff had been negotiating with the Iranians about nuclear weapons for "several months.""They tried to negotiate with Iran, with the largest state sponsor of terrorism," Jordan said. "They were willing to sit down and try to figure this out ... And they could tell from those negotiations that Iran was committed to pursuing and getting a nuclear weapon. And they said there is no other alternative."pic.twitter.com/TciHq7XQKQ— Rep. Jim Jordan (@Jim_Jordan) March 12, 2026