On Tuesday’s broadcast of the Fox Business Network’s “The Bottom Line,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that Iran’s strikes earlier in the day show “that the Iranians do not want to sit down. They don’t want to negotiate.” And “We will continue to encourage the president to strike Iran as hard as possible in order to bring them to the table and keep them at the table.”

Ernst said, “My message to the Iranian regime is they had better look out, do not mess with the U.S. So, the president has been very good about remaining calm through these difficult times and allowing for peace talks to continue. We want good policy. We want those negotiations to go on. But if Iran is not going to honor our opportunity to bring peace and stability to the region, the United States will take action. The president has said, too, that, if we see U.S. servicemembers killed, we will strike back, and it will be, likely, ten-fold. So, again, to the Iranian regime, my dear friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, may have been laid to rest, but his words will still live on. We will continue to encourage the president to strike Iran as hard as possible in order to bring them to the table and keep them at the table.”

She added, “[W]hat this is showing is that the Iranians do not want to sit down. They don’t want to negotiate. We should be able to retaliate with, not just an equal force, but an overwhelming force.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett