US House passes war powers resolution rebuking Trump’s ‘illegal’ action in Iran

Washington: The US House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan War Powers Resolution seeking to end American hostilities against Iran, delivering a political setback to President Donald Trump as criticism grows over a conflict that has stretched into its fourth month.

The resolution, introduced by House Foreign Affairs Committee Ranking Member Gregory Meeks and backed by senior Democrats including Adam Smith and Jim Himes on Wednesday (local time), passed by a narrow 215-208 vote.

Calling the outcome a major turning point, Meeks said, “The passage of my War Powers Resolution is a significant bipartisan rebuke of President Trump’s illegal and costly war in Iran, and the first step toward ending it once and for all.”

The vote reflects mounting congressional opposition to a conflict that critics say has failed to achieve its stated objectives while imposing high economic and human costs.

“The message from today’s bipartisan Iran War Powers Resolution vote was crystal clear: Trump must immediately end his catastrophic war of choice against Iran,” House Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Adam Smith said.

Smith argued that the administration had failed to accomplish its goals, saying Trump had not succeeded in “ending Iran’s nuclear ambitions, removing its highly enriched uranium, or regime change.”

Instead, he said, “Iran has gained greater leverage, continues to destabilise the region, has a younger and more hardline Ayatollah, and we’re looking at having to pay Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which was open before Trump launched his war.”

Meeks also contended that the conflict had weakened prospects for diplomacy.

“Trump’s war has failed to accomplish the Trump administration’s stated goals with respect to Iran. If anything, it has pushed a diplomatic resolution of Iran’s nuclear programme further away,” he said.

He added that the war had “allowed Iran to demonstrate its leverage over the Strait of Hormuz” while increasing costs for Americans.

“Americans are paying 50 per cent more at the gas pump since the war began and footing the bill for billions per week in costs for a war they overwhelmingly oppose,” Meeks said.

Representative Pramila Jayapal, who was unable to vote because she was in India attending to what she described as an unforeseen health emergency involving her mother, said she would have supported the measure.

“Had I been in Washington, D.C., I would have voted YES on the War Powers Resolution to end Trump’s illegal war in Iran,” Jayapal said.

She argued that Congress alone possesses the constitutional authority to declare war and described the conflict as a “war of choice”.

“This war has had disastrous effects for the American people and for the world,” she said, citing the deaths of US service members, civilian casualties in Iran and Lebanon, displacement of civilians, and rising economic costs.

“The simple truth is that the American people are paying the price for Trump’s lawlessness,” Jayapal said.

She added: “Every day that this war continues is a violation of our Constitution.”

Both Smith and Meeks said the House vote reflected growing public dissatisfaction with the conflict.

“Today’s vote was also a reflection of the American public’s overwhelming rejection of Trump’s staggeringly unpopular and abject failure of a war,” Smith said.

Meeks said the measure demonstrated that “more and more Republicans are listening to their constituents who do not want another open-ended war in the Middle East.”

“Now the Senate must take up this measure and make clear to the President that enough is enough,” he said.

The House vote comes amid a broader debate in Washington over presidential war powers and congressional oversight of military action.

IANS