The US Senate rejects restrictions on Trump’s war powers, while Hegseth promises “death and destruction” to Iran

WASHINGTON – Senate Republicans and a lone Democrat blocked a War Powers Resolution on Wednesday aimed at restricting President Donald Trump’s joint war with Israel in Iran, which has left six American soldiers dead and killed top Iranian leaders.

The solution failed 47-52, with Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., the only Republican co-sponsoring the measure, joining Democrats in challenging Trump’s war in Iran.

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., was the only Democrat to break with his party and vote against a continuation measure.

The vote came five days after Trump ordered the military to join Israel in surprise attacks against Iran that killed its Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Pentagon officials say the administration has no plans to let up in the ongoing offensive.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said earlier Wednesday that U.S. B-1, B-2 and B-52 aircraft as well as Predator drones will fly “day and night” with the Israeli Air Force to deliver “death and destruction from the skies all day long.”

Republicans have largely agreed to support Trump’s actions and the passage of the War Powers Resolution, which would force the president to give a response at the Capitol about the next steps in Iran.

Democrats claim Trump’s war in Iran is illegal and violates Article I of the Constitution, which gives Congress the power to declare war. Republicans claim Trump acted well within the war powers granted to the president in Article II of the Constitution.

“Members of the Senate, this is war.”

The 1973 Dissolution of the war powers Requires the President to report to Congress within 48 hours of troop deployment. If Congress has not authorized war or passed legislation related to the military action 60 days after initial notification, the President’s apply of military forces will automatically terminate.

Congress passed the law limiting the president’s war powers, despite President Richard Nixon’s veto in the ongoing Vietnam War. congress the veto was overridden.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., said ahead of the vote that Republicans “want to give the president an easy way to circumvent the Constitution.”

“You can’t stand up and say this is done and there are no troops involved in hostilities against Iran. Members of the Senate, this is war. The President of the United States has called it a war against Iran,” said Kaine, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee.

Kaine, along with Paul, supported the War Powers Resolution.

Kaine said locally that during a classified government briefing on Tuesday, he asked officials whether the recent pattern of military interventions in Venezuela and now Iran means “that you believe you never have to come to Congress to wage war on anyone, anywhere.”

“Nobody” has refuted his point of view, he said.

Briefings for Congress

Administrative officers informed all members of Congress on Tuesday for the first time since the start of the war. Officials had briefed congressional leaders and heads of intelligence committees.

Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich., who also sits on the Armed Services Committee, said before the vote that the Constitution “leaves no room for doubt that Congress, and not the President, has the sole power to declare war.”

“And that control exists for a very important reason. Our founders did not want to place the immense power over whether or not to go to war in the hands of just one individual,” Peters said.

Sen. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, said ahead of the vote that the extensive majority of presidents in American history “have ordered kinetic actions, just as President Trump did, without going to Congress.”

“This is nothing new,” said Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Lindsey Graham praises Trump again

In extensive comments on the Senate floor before the vote, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., praised Trump’s decisions on Iran and argued that the War Powers Resolution violates the Constitution.

“My Democratic colleagues: What you are proposing will cause chaos for any successive commander in chief,” said Graham, a Trump ally who has been openly pro-war all week.

Graham said that if Congress wants to stop Trump’s war in Iran, it could do so by cutting funding through the annual appropriations process.

“As commander in chief, the president has the ability to use our armed forces to protect our nation. And if we disagree with that decision, Congress has the ability to terminate the action and take away the money, and that is the checks and balances that were created a long time ago,” Graham said.

Speaker Johnson says the US is not at war

The US House of Representatives is expected to adopt the War Powers Resolution on Thursday. Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters several times this week that he expected failure.

During a morning news conference, Johnson said he did not believe the military was “at war right now” and argued that if Congress restricted the president’s ability to continue attacking Iran, it would “do serious harm to the country.”

Johnson brushed aside the possibility that Americans could vote out Republicans in November’s midterm elections if the war drags on, particularly without formal authorization from Congress.

“I think they’ll reward it politically, but if people get a bad taste for what happened here in Iran in the first half of the year, then they’ll just do it,” he said. “But we know, and history will testify, that we did the right thing.”

Johnson added that he believes it would be a terrible and hazardous idea for lawmakers to vote against further military action in Iran.

A War Powers resolution to stop Trump’s military actions in Venezuela narrowly failed in both countries in January House And senate.

Ground troops?

The White House maintains that Iran has rejected any negotiations with the United States to limit its nuclear program and that the goal of the war that began over the weekend is to destroy Iran’s current weapons capacity and missile production and “end its path to nuclear weapons,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday.

The press secretary said American ground troops were “not part of the current plan,” but did not rule out that this option was “on the table.”

Leavitt denied any claim that the goal of the offensive was regime change, although some Iranian leaders were killed.

Leavitt said during the news conference that the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities in June, dubbed Operation Midnight Hammer, “obliterated Iran’s three major nuclear sites.”

“Yet the terrorist Iranian regime remains fully committed to rebuilding its nuclear program,” she said.

Iranian authorities said in November that the country was no longer enriching uranium. after to The Associated Press. The AP further reported that the withdrawn government did so blocked blocked international inspectors from assessing its four nuclear enrichment facilities, citing a confidential report seen by journalists from the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Controlling the sky, sinking a ship

Hegseth stressed Wednesday morning that the US will not tardy down its offensive in Iran, having already attacked 2,000 targets, and that more troops and air power will arrive on Wednesday.

The minister said the US and Israel would gain “complete control of Iranian skies” within days.

Hegseth also showed video of an apparent U.S. submarine attack in the Indian Ocean on Iran’s “prize ship,” sinking it.

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the submarine used a single torpedo to sink the ship – the first time a U.S. submarine had done so since World War II, he said.

US Central Command wrote on social media that it had “hit or sunk to the bottom of the ocean” more than 20 Iranian regime ships.

The Pentagon pointed to a significant decrease in Iranian retaliation. Starting Sunday, the regime launched missiles and drones at civilian sites in all Gulf states as well as at regional US military bases.

Caine said Iranian missile and drone attacks have fallen by 86% and 73%, respectively, since the first day of fighting.

A drone strike killed six US soldiers on Sunday at a commercial port in Kuwait, a US ally.

Caine said the remains of the six U.S. soldiers would return to the U.S. “as quickly as possible.” The Pentagon publicly identified Four died tardy Wednesday, and Caine said the military would release the names of the other two soldiers killed “as soon as we can ensure that all of these families have been properly notified.”

Leavitt said Trump would attend the transfer of the troops’ remains upon their arrival at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

Hegseth criticizes the media

Hegseth said the Pentagon moved 90% of U.S. troops out of range of Iranian missiles before the war.

“We have taken control of Iran’s airspace and waterways without any ground troops on the ground. We control their fate, but when a few drones come through or tragic things happen, it’s a front-page headline. I understand. The press just wants to make the president look bad,” he said.

Both Hegseth and Leavitt declined to provide details about an attack Saturday on an elementary school in southern Iran that local authorities said killed 168 people, including many children.

“All I can say is that we are investigating. Of course we never target civilian targets,” Hegseth said.

When Hegseth was asked whether the school was hit by US or Israeli munitions, he replied: “We are investigating.”

Jennifer Shutt contributed to this report.