Several US senators, who say they don’t want war, have called for direct strikes on Iran after the attack claimed by an Iran-backed group in Iraq killed three US soldiers on the Syria-Jordan border, Al Jazeera reports.

“Target Tehran,” wrote John Cornyn of Texas on X. He later clarified he meant attacks on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and this would be “about deterrence, not war”.

Lindsey Graham of South Carolina called on President Biden to “strike targets of significance inside Iran” – also for “deterrence” purposes.

Tom Cotton of Arkansas said he wants to see “devastating military retaliation against Iran’s terrorist forces, both in Iran and across the Middle East”.