Republican Speaker Mike Johnson says he doesn't support nation-building in Iran

Speaker Mike Johnson and Republicans said the U.S. should not nation-build in Iran after President Donald Trump said the war is “the beginning of building a new country.”

DORAL, Fla. — House Speaker Mike Johnson and other top Republicans said Tuesday the U.S. should not be involved in nation-building in Iran, a day after President Donald Trump called the operation there “the beginning of building a new country.”

“I don’t” support nation-building, Johnson, R-La., said in a fireside chat with NBC News at House Republicans’ annual policy conference in south Florida. “I don’t think it’s our role,”

He added that “America has a very important role to play in the world” and that it is "the defenders of freedom and liberty.”

“Does that mean that we should be intervening everywhere around the world and nation-building and doing all these other endeavors?” Johnson continued. “No, because we don’t have the resources or the appetite to do that. That’s not our responsibility. Our responsibility, in my view, is to project peace through strength."

Johnson echoed Trump's appeal to the Iranian people in a video message posted after the initial U.S. strikes began late last month. “When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take," Trump said at the time.