Bentz Backs Iran Pressure but Opposes Ground Troops, Defends Phone Town Halls

The U.S. Forest Service's national leadership has been headquartered in Washington, D.C. since the agency's founding. Rep. Cliff Bentz wants to end that arrangement, and his endorsement of relocating those headquarters to Salt Lake City carries direct weight for Baker City, home to the Wallowa-Whitman National Forest supervisor's office, where federal land management decisions reach local ranchers, timber operators, and grazing permit holders on a daily basis. Moving national leadership roughly 2,200 miles closer to the forests it governs, Bentz argued, would make the agency more accountable to the West. "I think it's a good idea to have them closer to the lands they're managing," he said. "I think there's a lot of room for improvement when it comes to managing our forests." He also backed creating an entirely new federal agency dedicated to wildfire coordination across departments, a proposal with immediate resonance in a region that contends with fire season every summer.

Bentz made the comments during a Baker City interview on April 10, the afternoon he arrived to moderate a forum featuring three Republican candidates for Oregon governor. The congressman, who is running for another two-year term this fall, covered ground on Iran, constituent access, and federal land management in a single regional appearance.

On Iran, Bentz said he supports "completely" the Trump administration's military campaign to prevent the country from building nuclear weapons. "We can't let them have that weapon," he said. The conflict has already registered at Baker County fuel pumps: Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical oil shipping channel, has pushed gas prices up more than $1 per gallon. Bentz said that price shock is likely why previous presidents avoided military confrontation with Iran, but he called the campaign "certainly worth the effort we're making," noting that American military deaths since the conflict began in late February have been limited to 13, with about 380 injured. He is "extremely happy" those numbers have stayed as low as they have, he said. A cease-fire announced by President Trump earlier that week added context to his remarks. Bentz said he supports eventual regime change in Iran, but not one the U.S. directly engineers.

He drew a firm line at ground troops. Asked about proposals to deploy American forces to physically seize Iran's uranium stockpiles, Bentz said he is "not enthusiastic at all" about such an operation and that any mission of that scale would require officials to provide a detailed explanation of why no other option remained.

On constituent access, Bentz acknowledged the real tension his shift away from in-person town halls creates but defended the decision. He argued that organized protest activity has turned his public events counterproductive for the Baker County residents who show up expecting a genuine exchange. "People are walking out who came there for a dialogue," he said. "I'm hearing that from them." A series of telephone town halls last year drew approximately 32,000 callers, none of whom had to travel, and Bentz contended those formats deliver substantive engagement that shouted-down public meetings cannot. His stated goal is preventing his events from becoming venues for criticism of the Trump administration rather than conversation with his own constituents. "At some point I will do live town halls again," he said. "I enjoy them." Until then, Baker County residents seeking casework help or direct contact can reach Bentz's congressional district office; the phone town hall format, while broad in reach, does not replicate the walk-in accessibility that in-person events provided.