US strikes Iran for second day: Is it a violation of war powers resolution?
Days after the US Congress tells Trump he needs to seek its approval or end war on Iran, president returns to attacks. But can he
Days after the US Congress tells Trump he needs to seek its approval or end war on Iran, president returns to attacks. But can he do it legally? The decision by the United States to carry out strikes on Iran has not only drawn retaliatory attacks from Tehran but also brought criticism from a Democratic lawmaker who has accused Republican President Donald Trump of violating a war powers resolution passed by Congress. Congress passed the resolution on Tuesday, stipulating that the president must either halt his military campaign against Iran or seek congressional approval before any further action is taken. Representative Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, condemned the latest US attacks on Iran, calling them “a blatant violation” of the congressional resolution and threatening to take Trump to court over it. The US military’s Central Command on Saturday hit Iranian military sites after accusing Tehran of targeting a ship passing through the Strait of Hormuz, which has become the focus of a geopolitical showdown between the two countries. In response, Tehran hit US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday as the two sides exchanged strikes for a second time over the weekend, threatening to unravel a fragile Iran-US memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 15. Meanwhile, Israel has continued to strike Lebanon despite a framework deal signed on Friday and the MoU calling for an end to war on all fronts, including in Lebanon. So is Trump violating the law, and can Congress stop him from attacking Iran? What is the 1973 War Powers Resolution? The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of committing armed forces to hostilities and bars sustained military action after 60 days, pending congressional approval. The Senate on Tuesday was voting for the 10th time to try to rein in the war that the US and Israel launched against Tehran on February 28. The Senate passed the resolution in a 50-48 vote despite Trump’s Republican Party enjoying a slim majority in both it and the House of Representatives.
Four Republicans voted in favour of the resolution, which is nonbinding. The House also passed the measure on June 3 by a vote of 215 to 208. Addressing the Senate before the vote, top Democrat Chuck Schumer said: “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.” “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,” he added. The war against Iran has been unpopular in the US, where less than a quarter of people feel the war has been worth the cost, as suggested by an Ipsos/Reuters poll. The vote on the resolution was held as the Pentagon is also seeking an $80bn boost from Congress, mostly for the Iran war as it backfills munitions and stockpiles depleted during the conflict. How was the resolution passed, and what does it say? Four Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favour of the Senate resolution: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Two other Republicans, Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, did not vote on the resolution. The resolution “directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Only if “explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorisation” would Trump be allowed to use further military force against Iran, it says. The resolution, however, does allow for a limited military presence to remain in the Middle East to prevent any “imminent attack” against the US or its allies. Trump called the vote “poorly timed and meaningless” and said it “provided aid and comfort” to Iran. He berated the Republicans who voted for the resolution at a luncheon at the Capitol on Wednesday. That night, Cassidy changed his vote and Paul voted present as the Senate rejected a nearly identical war powers resolution 47-50 in an attempt to appease the president.
The BriefWire