Michael Steele , the former chair of the Republican National Committee , has warned the GOP of the possible long-term consequences of backing President Donald Trump over military action against Iran.

The Republican Party is going to own this, and they need to be careful, Steele told The Washington Post on Monday.

You can cheerlead the president, but do you really know what he wants to do here, in the middle of a 17-year narrative, and how itll play out? Steele added. No, you dont.

The Posts article detailed how the escalation in tensions between the U.S. and Iran following Fridays U.S. airstrike that killed top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani could affect Trumps reelection.

Steele served as the RNC chair from 2009 to 2011 and in the Trump era has become one of the GOPs staunchest critics. Last month, he said the current Republican Party is somewhat irrelevant in the overall scheme of democracy.

Because weve taken ourselves so far outside of its not even mainstream, were not even near a stream, he said. Were just kind of standing in the middle of nowhere with Donald Trump screaming at us.

He also called the party SOBs for bulk-buying thousands of copies of Donald Trump Jr. s book Triggered and described Republican questioning of witnesses in the Houses public impeachment hearings against Trump over the Ukraine scandal as pathetic .