House Passes Resolution to End the Iran War — Fresh Blow for Trump

The U.S. House of Representatives approved Tuesday evening a War Powers resolution aimed at ending U.S. military action in Iran, by 220 votes to 204. It is the third vote of its kind on the six-month conflict, and the resolution now goes to the Senate. A small number of Republican lawmakers joined Democrats in support of the measure.

The resolution was authored by Democratic Congressman Seth Moulton of Massachusetts and co-sponsored by 14 Democrats, most of them military veterans. “By the Trump administration’s own metrics, Iran is winning and America is losing,” Moulton said after the vote. “Tonight, Congress did its constitutional duty and said: enough. People at home are suffering from rapidly rising costs, and our troops’ lives are at risk in a war that never should have happened.”

The vote follows a new Congressional Budget Office report, which puts the war’s cost at over $38 billion. The report also warns that missile-defense operations have badly depleted U.S. stocks of defensive missiles, whose replacement could take years. Since the conflict began in late February, 18 American soldiers have been killed and hundreds more wounded.

The War Powers Act, passed after the Vietnam War, requires the president to secure congressional approval within 60 days of a military deployment and allows Congress to end operations if no formal authorization is granted. Trump has repeatedly opposed such votes — in June a similar resolution passed 215–208, and the president called it a “meaningless vote” on Truth Social.

The resolution’s future now depends on the Senate, where similar votes have been held before without a final outcome. Its supporters hope the new pressure, just weeks before the November midterm elections, will force the administration to negotiate a diplomatic solution and reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Source: Al Jazeera