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Rep. John McGuire, R-Va., welcomed 21-year-old Seth McCready home from Israel this week, as the State Department issued a security alert for U.S. citizens traveling worldwide and the conflict between Israel and Iran raged on.
McCready talked to Fox News Digital in an exclusive interview at the Washington Dulles International Airport on Tuesday after he traveled from Israel to Jordan to Egypt before catching his final flight home.
The Virginia native was greeted by his father and two brothers at the International Arrivals Gate, all sporting big smiles and embracing as their congressman stood by with red, white and blue balloons and an American flag that was flown over the U.S. Capitol.
“God protected me and the people I was with, and he’s protecting Israel too,” McCready said. “I 100% believe Israel’s gonna pull through, no problem.”
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McGuire’s office was in constant contact with McCready during his days-long journey home from Israel, according to the young American.
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When the Jewish state launched its initial attacks on Iran, which President Donald Trump has referred to as the “12-day war,” McCready was visiting family in Israel. He told Fox News Digital that he was later able to volunteer with a ministry group, preparing rooms and even delivering food to those in need as the strikes continued.
“We did get a couple impacts. There was one that was like a kilometer away from me, and the whole building shook,” McCready said, describing a strike that slipped through Israel’s defenses.
McGuire, who joined McCready’s family to welcome him home on Tuesday, said, “I’m just so happy for his family. You can’t always help somebody, but when you can, that’s the best part about this job.”
The freshman Virginia congressman said he worked with the State Department to secure McCready’s path home. Both McCready and McGuire thanked his political director, Ramona Christian, for her vital role in getting McCready home.
“It’s just a big team effort, and this is the second young person we helped get home in a week. And now we’ve got a couple of other folks that have reached out to our office, and we’re hoping to be able to help them as well,” McGuire told Fox News Digital in an interview.
McGuire celebrated McCready’s homecoming as the fragile ceasefire deal between Iran and Israel had just begun.
Questions remained about whether the ceasefire would hold when Trump announced on Monday evening that “It has been fully agreed by and between Israel and Iran that there will be a Complete and Total CEASEFIRE.”
Trump said the U.S. successfully struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday night, but questions remain on Capitol Hill as to what degree the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program.
McGuire, a Trump loyalist who secured his endorsement in 2024, said the “ability for Iran to project power has been greatly diminished.”
“We had an imminent threat of a nuclear weapon in Iran, and we just couldn’t have that,” McGuire added. “That threat has been eliminated.”
Israel had launched a series of coordinated attacks on Iran on June 13, which Iran retaliated against, prompting the countries to exchange strikes for 12 days. After the U.S. struck Iran, the Islamic Republic launched retaliatory attacks on a U.S. air base in Qatar.
But McGuire affirmed he is “very hopeful” that the ceasefire between Israel and Iran will hold and that there will be peace in the Middle East.
The Virginia Republican is a member of the House Oversight Committee and the House Armed Services, bringing his 10 years of experience as a Navy SEAL to the position.
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