ISLAMABAD : Monitoring Desk – The US Senate passed a resolution directing President Donald Trump to end US military action against Iran, marking a rare bipartisan rebuke of the White House while it pushes for peace with Tehran. The US Senate approved a war powers resolution seeking to block military action against Iran on Tuesday, local time.
While the measure is considered largely symbolic, it reflects the growing concerns among Republican politicians over the war.
DW reportes with AFP and other news agencies ; The largely symbolic resolution was voted 50-48 by the Republican-majority Senate, after earlier clearing the House of Representatives with Republican support.
As a “concurrent resolution,” it does not require Trump’s signature and carries disputed legal weight.
The vote reflected concern in Congress over a war that began with US and Israeli strikes on Iran in February.
It also is one of the handful of times Republicans have broken with the president to vote across the aisle, highlighting how some congressional members of Trump’s Republican Party are growing skeptical of US military operations against Iran.
4 Senators Leave Trump Alone
Republicans hold a majority in the Senate, but four conservatives crossed party lines to approve the resolution, along with nearly all the chamber’s Democrats, save one.
Tuesday’s vote marked the first time a war powers resolution had successfully passed both chambers of Congress. But the effort is largely symbolic and is not expected to become law.
Tuesday’s breakaway Republicans included Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. A further two Republicans did not vote: Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania.
The lone Democrat to side with Republicans on the matter was Pennsylvania’s John Fetterman.
Speaking on the chamber floor, top Democrat Chuck Schumer noted that Tuesday’s vote marked the 10th time the Senate had taken up a war powers resolution to rein in Trump’s military campaign against Iran.
“For years, Trump promised to put maximum pressure on Iran, but he ended up delivering maximum confusion, maximum chaos, maximum cost to the American people with his disastrous war,” Schumer said.
“ Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war, instead of the American people. The American people have paid the price for Trump’s historic blunder in Iran. It’ll go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made.”
Trump dismisses Congress resolution
Trump criticized the largely symbolic Congress resolution calling it “poorly timed and meaningless.”
“So, I have Iran on the ‘ropes,’ ready to go down for the fall…and the US Senate decides to have a poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act Vote,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“These Senators have just made my job more difficult, but I will get it done, one way or the other, because I always get it done!”
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Trump ally, called the vote a “very dangerous prospect” amid negotiations with Tehran.
Americans growing skeptical of Iran war
The vote came at a time when a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed that three in four Americans don’t believe the war with Iran was worth the costs. A majority also said that a truce with Tehran is unlikely to be sustainable.
Some Republicans also expressed unease over the conflict and its economic costs, while Democrats maintain that the president violated the Constitution by launching military operations without congressional approval.
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is trying to turn a preliminary peace agreement with Tehran into a final deal covering Iran’s nuclear program, sanctions relief and passage through the Strait of Hormuz. The negotiations are ongoing.
Does this mean the war is going to end?
There’s a big question mark over whether this measure is enforceable, according to legal experts.
While legislation usually needs a president’s signature to be signed into law, the War Powers Act of 1973 states that war powers resolutions are exempt.
A Supreme Court ruling from 1983 complicates that, though, saying such a measure does need to be submitted for a president’s signature or veto to have legal effect.
Meanwhile, the White House has insisted the War Powers Act is not constitutional and therefore, not binding.
On Tuesday, a White House official said the resolution had no force of law because it would not go before the president.
Experts say the disagreement would need to be settled in the courts.
“The executive branch will likely ignore it on constitutional grounds, and it’s not clear who might have standing to sue to enforce it,” said Scott Anderson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and senior editor of the online legal publication Lawfare.
Democratic representative Gregory Meeks of New York, who sponsored the resolution in the House, said he viewed the resolution as binding and would pursue all legal avenues to ensure that the administration complies.
