Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) praised President Donald Trump over his handling of the “12 Day War” on Wednesday, but warned of lingering danger from Iranian sleeper cells in the U.S.

Speaking with the Washington Examiner, Ernst said the president handled the conflict with Iran “extremely well,” conducting limited strikes while stopping short of sending the U.S. into a quagmire.

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“If you look through history at various presidents and their actions, this is not a war,” she said. “This was a strike, and it was in retaliation to their nuclear capabilities as well.”

Ernst criticized the perceived inaction of the Biden administration in failing to respond properly to the killings of Americans during Hamas’s surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. She said Trump’s limited strikes on Saturday were fine without Congressional approval, but that such approval was needed if he were to send ground troops into Iran.

“This is a strike after their nuclear capabilities, after their military capabilities, and I think it was warranted, it was OK for the President to do that,” she argued. “If we were to enter into a ground war, I do think that needs to come across [Congress], but I do not see it going there.”

Ernst also voiced her approval for an effort spearheaded by Republicans in Congress to nominate the president for the Nobel Peace Prize over his handling of the Israel-Iran war and other global conflicts.

“Of course I do!” she answered when asked if she believes he should receive the award.

“This is a president that is all about peace, and we know it takes a lot to negotiate peace, especially when so many of these actions were building and building and building during the Biden administration,” Ernst elaborated.

“But we know that when negotiations fail, that’s when military action happens. So we want negotiations to work. We do not want to see any more military action,” she continued, pointing to her experience as a veteran who served in the Middle East. “My daughter also serves active-duty Army. I don’t want to engage her. I don’t want to engage my son-in-law into a war that does not need to happen.”

Ernst voiced optimism that the ceasefire would hold, but expressed concern about Iranian sleeper cells in the United States that could still retaliate for Saturday’s U.S. strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

“We know that there are a number of Iranians who have come into the United States through our open border. If they are part of sleeper cells, we need to be very, very aware of what’s going on. We need to find them. We need to track them down,” she said.

More than 700 Iranian illegal immigrants were released into the country under the Biden administration, according to a report by The Center Square.

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Ernst said she hadn’t yet been briefed on the damage to Iran’s nuclear program, but would be on Thursday. Speculation has swirled around the damage done to Tehran’s nuclear program, especially after a classified preliminary report suggested that the strikes had only set the country’s nuclear program back by a few months. U.S. intelligence believes Iran may have been able to move much of its enriched uranium from Fordow shortly before the strikes, although Trump denies this and vowed to investigate the intelligence leak.

Ernst spoke with the Washington Examiner after a talk with Public Labor Unions Accountability Committee Senior Advisor Mary Katharine Ham, where she touched on efforts to curb public sector employees using work time for union activities.