Senator Jack Reed said while further military attacks between the U.S. and Iran appear unlikely in the immediate future, escalating tensions and recent events have further damaged America’s reputation in the region.

“It represents a situation in which our security position and our presence in the region has been diminished,” Reed said in an interview following President Trump’s press conference on Iran Wednesday.

Following a U.S. strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian military leader, Iraq’s Parliament voted to expel American military troops, and Iran countered with a military strike of their own.

During his remarks, Trump did not call for further military action, following the Iranian strikes on military outposts in Iraq, where American troops are posted. The strike resulted in no American casualties according to news reports and the President.

Reed said it appears Iran made a calculated effort to avoid further casualties.

“I think they wanted something more symbolic than a substantive attack,” Reed said. “Now I think, seeing that, the administration can be more rhetorical and verbal than a physical counter-attack.”

Earlier in the week, Reed roundly rejected the President’s threat to destroy Iranian cultural sites should Iran retaliate. Reed said a larger question the President may soon face is the prospect of Iran moving forward with efforts to build a nuclear device.

“And when that happens, the President is going to be faced with a very difficult choice,” Reed said.

Reed is the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Following a classified briefing on Iran by the Trump administration Wednesday, Rep. David Cicilline said he was dissatisfied with the Whitehouse’s explanation for reasoning behind the strike that began the escalation.

“No intelligence that supports the existence of an imminent threat to the United States was presented to justify this escalation or the President’s failure to obtain approval from Congress,” Cicilline said in a statement.

Cicilline is a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.