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U.S. Senate votes to pass Iran war powers resolution, in blow to Trump
(Al Jazeera) The United States Senate has passed a bill to pause President Donald Trump’s military campaign against Iran and seek congressional approval before any further action is taken.
On Tuesday, the chamber voted 50 to 48 to pass the resolution, which had been approved in the House of Representatives earlier in the month.
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.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer characterised President Donald Trump’s military actions in Iran as a ‘historic blunder’ [Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images via AFP]
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.”
On 28th February, Trump joined Israel in launching attacks against Iran, triggering a region-wide war that has continued through this month.
It was also the second time since returning to office for a second term that Trump involved U.S. military forces in a war against Iran. In June 2025, Trump had also sent bombers to attack three key sites associated with Iran’s nuclear enrichment programme.
Trump has said the latest war was necessary to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, an ambition it has long denied.
But critics have characterised the February strikes as an unprovoked act of aggression that has threatened to further destabilise the Middle East.
Negotiations are currently underway in Switzerland, as the Trump administration and Iran continue to discuss the terms of a ceasefire set out in a June 17 memorandum of understanding (MOU).
But whether that memorandum will hold remains unclear. Israel, the US’s partner in the war against Iran, has continued to carry out strikes in Lebanon, violating the terms of the agreement, which called for a halt to fighting on all fronts.
Critics of Tuesday’s resolution pointed to the ongoing negotiations as a reason to scuttle the bill’s passage.
The war powers resolution “directs the President to remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran”. Only if “explicitly authorised by a declaration of war or a specific congressional authorisation” would Trump be allowed to use further military force against Iran.
The resolution, however, does allow for limited military presence to remain, in order to prevent any “imminent attack” against the U.S. or its allies.
Still, some Republican senators warned the war powers resolution would weaken Trump’s standing in the Switzerland negotiations.
“If this passes, the Iranians are going to simply stand up and walk away from negotiations,” James Risch of Idaho told the Senate chamber.
“They’re going to say: This thing’s over. The Congress has told the President of the United States, ‘Leave us alone. We can do whatever we wanna do.’ And they will walk away.”
Risch also argued that the resolution was essentially useless, given the all but certain prospect of Trump’s veto. “It’s going to have no effect. The president isn’t gonna pay any attention to it,” he said.
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