Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS) said on Wednesday that Iran has to be “able to defend themselves,” suggesting the U.S. would “never” get a full surrender from Tehran.

The Kansas Republican was responding to a question from CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, who asked Marshall if he was OK with Tehran having missiles.

“I’m hesitating. I’d prefer that they not,” Marshall replied. “I certainly don’t want them to have long-distance missiles. I don’t want them to have nuclear-armed missiles. I would prefer they didn’t. But I don’t think that’s the key issue here. I think that they have to be able to defend themselves.”

Collins interjected, asking, “You think Iran needs to be able to defend itself?”

“I do. I think they have to be able to defend themselves,” Marshall replied. “Otherwise we turn this into a forever war. You’re never going to get them — short of boots on the ground — of surrendering everything, an unconditional agreement, if you will.”

The comments from the senator, who has in recent years been an outlier in his party over his defense of Qatar, came shortly after President Donald Trump said in France that it would be “OK” for Iran to retain some of its ballistic missile capabilities. “If other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them not to have some,” the president said on the sidelines of the G7 summit.