John Fetterman
(Photo : Nathan Howard/Getty Images)
Sen. John Fetterman says the U.S. is not standing strongly with Israel.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) claims the U.S. is "not standing firmly with Israel" in the wake of a huge missile and drone attack by Iran.

"There should never be any kinds of conditions on all that. When a nation can launch hundreds of drones towards Israel — I'm not going to be talking about conditions ever," Fetterman told CNN Sunday.

President Biden on Sunday praised U.S. forces who helped Israel — at "his direction," he noted — intercept some 300 drones and missiles launched by Iran Saturday night. But he also told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call that America would not participate in offensive action against Iran, U.S. officials told CNN.

"Iran had to have some fireworks after Israel smoked that Iranian general — and I am here for that. And I think it's just a matter of theater, part of it as well, too. And finally, it demonstrates how unstable things are and why we need to lean in and stand with Israel," he added.

Fetterman was referring to Iranian retaliation for a suspected Israeli bombing attack on an Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria, two weeks ago that killed 13 people, including a top general of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and a number of military advisers. 

When asked what Israel should do in response to the attack, Fetterman said he would leave that up to the Israelis.

"I'm not going to suggest what Israel should or shouldn't do on that," he said.

"Iran certainly can't take on Israel, and certainly not us. So I think they would just like to keep things as they go. And then after they made a point ... I think they could go pretty quiet," he added.

Fetterman disagreed with the Biden administration advising that Israel should not look to respond militarily.

"I just think we should follow and have Israel's back in this situation," he noted.

As for former President Donald Trump claiming the attack on Israel would have never happened if he was in charged in the White House, Fetterman said: "He should be focusing on his time in court tomorrow."