CNN News anchor Kaitlan Collins grilled Democratic Senator John Fetterman for his differing views regarding the military operations in Iran. The senator from Pennsylvania appeared on The Source to discuss the combat mission as the war entered its second week. Kaitlan grabbed the opportunity to put him in the hot seat and ask Fetterman why he didn’t join his fellow Democratic senators in signing a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, demanding an investigation into the strike on an elementary school in Iran.
On February 28, an elementary school in Iran was struck by a missile. The strike claimed more than 170 lives, mostly children. There is mounting pressure on the US military to take responsibility for the strike, especially after exclusive footage proved that the missile used in the strike that day was a Tomahawk cruise missile. However, President Donald Trump continues to shift blame to Iran.
We asked Sen. John Fetterman why he didn’t sign onto the letter with all his Democratic colleagues calling for an investigation into the strike on the Iranian girls school. pic.twitter.com/7TxSqUMCSS
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) March 12, 2026
Collins questioned, “You mentioned how you differ from your colleagues, your other fellow Democrats. Every Senate Democrat except you signed a letter today to Secretary Hegseth asking for an investigation into that strike on a girls’ school in Iran. Why did you not sign that letter, Senator?”
Fetterman, who has previously shown his support for Trump for launching the war, replied calmly, saying that while he thinks the strike was a tragedy, he doesn’t support his colleagues calling the conflict a war of choice. He went on to say that he supports the mission.
“Well, because we all agree that it is a tragedy having that school hit, absolutely. And we all agreed now for an investigation. What I don’t agree with the rest of my colleagues in the House is that it’s a war of choice, or it’s dumb, or all the things that my colleagues have described, you know, this operation. I think it’s a good thing and I support that.”
Fetterman saw a letter about dead schoolgirls and wanted everyone knew he backed the bombing. https://t.co/C3h9rbeQAw pic.twitter.com/fJSYxCEzY3
— Omar El-Ayat (@oelayat) March 11, 2026
He then proceeded to say that it would be unfair not to give the Pentagon a chance to investigate. He echoed President Trump’s words by telling Collins that Iran is the country that targets its own people.
“…actually, the Pentagon is already investing in that…Just like my colleague from Louisiana said, it’s like, you know, we should apologize. That’s a tragedy. And I would remind everybody listening right now, the United States never, ever targets civilians. Iran does, you know, including their own citizens.”
After Collins appeared to agree with his statement, Fetterman continued, “And they massacred 35,000 of them just a couple of weeks ago. And the lift and—please, please—the left media is much more angry, you know, about or talking about this hospital. And it is a tragedy. But they didn’t seem to be as concerned about the Iranians massacring tens of thousands of their young people just a couple of weeks ago, too.”
During the discussion on CNN, Fetterman said that since the Pentagon is slowly starting to acknowledge its actions, the letter should be “rendered moot.” He closed the discussion by criticizing what he called left-wing media outlets that twist the news to convince Americans that things are out of control, saying it’s “just categorically not true.”
