While many Democrats and media outlets claim President Donald Trump’s war with Iran has no clear goals, Republican U.S. Senate candidate John E. Sununu told NHJournal Thursday he knows exactly what they are.

“I think the administration has laid out that they simply cannot have access to a nuclear weapon,” Sununu said. “Their ballistic missile program needs to be eliminated; not just degraded, but really eliminated, and they need to stop this 50-year funding of global terrorism.”

Sununu made his comments during the most recent NHJournal podcast, where he urged the administration to stay focused on stopping Iran’s aggression while accusing Democrats of putting national security and New Hampshire families at risk through their policy choices.

“Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years,” Sununu said. “They’re responsible for taking the embassy, bombing the Marine barracks in Beirut, bombing our military in Saudi Arabia, Khobar Towers, bombing the USS Cole, and obviously killing thousands using IEDs.”

Sununu said U.S. strategy should center on three clear goals: stopping Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, dismantling its ballistic missile capabilities, and ending its support for terrorist organizations. Achieving those goals would represent a major national security success for the United States.

“That absolutely has advanced our national security interests and dealt with a set of issues that have plagued Americans for 47 years,” he said.

However, Sununu warned against attempting to reshape Iran’s government through military intervention.

“America cannot and never has successfully gone into a country with boots on the ground and reconstituted a government in our image,” he said. “Rebuilding a government and civil society has to be done by the people in that country.”

Sununu was asked how the Obama administration’s Iran policy, supported by New Hampshire Democratic Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, looks today, given the regime’s behavior over the past decade.

“It looks like what it was — a big mistake,” Sununu said.

“Most notoriously, there was $1.7 billion flown over (to Iran) in a shrink-wrapped cash. It sounds like it’s made up, but it’s not; $1.7 billion in shrink-wrapped cash.

“But that pales in comparison to the $50 or $100 billion in assets that were freed up, and that’s the funds that they use to support the biggest global terrorist network the world has seen. Whether it’s the Houthis or Hamas or Hezbollah or even things they were doing in Venezuela, all of it was designed to attack and assault America’s security interests.”

Sununu also criticized congressional Democrats over the ongoing fight over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, saying withholding funding for agencies such as the Transportation Security Administration and Coast Guard during a time of heightened global tensions is irresponsible.

“This is not the time to play politics with government shutdowns of Homeland Security,” Sununu said.

He said failing to fund frontline personnel while they continue working to protect the country is unacceptable.

“When you’ve got men and women in TSA just trying to do their job, and you’re preventing them from getting a paycheck — or people in the Coast Guard or Homeland Security doing research trying to understand threats to the country — that’s outrageous,” Sununu said.

Sununu also tied the issue to his likely Democratic opponent, accusing Pappas of consistently backing party leadership in Washington rather than prioritizing New Hampshire.

“My whole Senate campaign is do what’s right for New Hampshire,” Sununu said. “Chris Pappas votes with his leadership 99 percent of the time, and it’s just not right for New Hampshire.”

Sununu also took aim at Pappas’ proposal to temporarily suspend the federal gas tax to help offset higher fuel prices tied to tensions in the Middle East.

Sununu said he is not opposed to lowering gas taxes but accused Pappas of political opportunism.

“I’m not against cutting gas taxes. I’m against hypocrisy,” Sununu said.

He pointed to past votes by Pappas supporting energy taxes and climate-related spending.

“Chris Pappas supported raising gas taxes,” Sununu said. “And he voted for $100 billion in energy taxes as part of the Build Back Better Act.”

Sununu said the policies supported by Democratic leaders have contributed to rising energy costs for New Hampshire residents, particularly in a state heavily dependent on natural gas for heating and electricity.

“New Hampshire people are struggling with their home heating bills, and he’s voting for higher taxes on energy,” Sununu said. “That’s just another example where he’s out of touch with the state.”

Sununu also argued that Democratic opposition to new energy infrastructure, including natural gas pipelines, has limited access to lower-cost energy supplies from neighboring states.

“Democratic leadership prevented gas pipelines coming from New York and through Massachusetts that would bring safe, clean, cheap natural gas to New Hampshire,” he said.

Sununu said he supports repealing the Jones Act to allow LNG from Texas and Louisiana to reach New England.

The Jones Act is a 1920 federal law that restricts domestic maritime commerce to U.S.-built, U.S.-owned, and U.S.-crewed ships, which makes it all but impossible for tankers to transport fuel between U.S. ports.

Sununu said his campaign will focus on policies that prioritize New Hampshire’s economic interests and reduce federal regulation affecting the state.

“You’ve got to stand up for our families, our workers, and our businesses first,” Sununu said.