Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., told Newsmax on Friday that President Joe Biden's "weak" foreign policy and tendency to deal with America's "foreign adversaries on his knees" are the reasons for unrest around the world.
"There's one word that really encapsulates everything that's going on here and it's weakness,” Van Drew said during an appearance on "Newsline." "We have a president that deals with foreign adversaries on his knees.
"None of this would have happened in the Trump administration. We haven't seen anything like this for many years, and the reason is, when you are a strong country — as [former President] Ronald Reagan said, 'No country is ever attacked because it's too strong' – you also, when you're a strong United States, maintain peace around the world.
"Why did this happen? It happened because Joe Biden removed the sanctions from Iran who's funding all of this, and that gave them billions of dollars of oil money in their coffers to expand terrorism around the world.
"Why is it happening? Because he unfroze $6 billion dollars for Iran, which gave them more money.
"Why is it happening? Because the Houthis, which were actually considered a terrorist group, he removed that status from them."
On Thursday, U.S. and British forces launched airstrikes against Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen after attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea.
The airstrikes hit a number of cities in Yemen, according to a Houthi source and witness, and reportedly involved Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets.
Biden said support for the operation was provided by Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands.
Van Drew said, "Everything that [Biden] does is weak," and predicted that the president’s weakness on the world stage will drive prices up for the American consumer.
"His foreign policy is weak, and now we have these problems and this tit for tat, where they are attacking ships around the world that are trying to get through the Red Sea," he said. "It's going to cost us more money in the United States of America and fuel inflation even more because all our goods are going to cost more.
"What does he do? He actually bombs a few areas where they have some storage and other things. He needs to tell them to stop.”
In remarks on Thursday, Biden said he "will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary."