President Trump formally notified Congress that “military action” against Iran restarted last week, according to a letter obtained by CBS News on Monday, as a monthslong ceasefire comes to an end.
Military action “commenced on July 7,” the president said in a message dated July 10 and addressed to Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Senate’s president pro tempore.
The letter was sent after Mr. Trump declared the U.S.-Iran ceasefire “over” and ordered several rounds of strikes on Iranian targets, in response to Iranian attacks on commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz last week. Iranian authorities have insisted that ships seek permission and use an Iranian-approved route before transiting the strait, and responded to the U.S. strikes by launching missiles and drones at U.S.-allied Gulf states.
The notification to Congress calls the most recent strikes “limited, measured, planned, and executed in a manner designed to minimize civilian casualties.” The goal, Mr. Trump wrote, is to target Iranian military sites that pose a threat to U.S. forces and commercial shipping.
Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, a post-Vietnam War law, the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of the start of military hostilities. Shortly after the U.S.-Iran war began in late February, the White House sent a notification to Congress, but the Trump administration’s position was that hostilities had “terminated” after the two sides signed a ceasefire in early April.
In last week’s letter to lawmakers, Mr. Trump wrote that the U.S. had engaged in “productive, good-faith efforts to achieve a diplomatic solution to Iran’s malign behavior,” leading the two countries to ink a memorandum of understanding last month. But he said Iran’s attacks on three oil tankers early last week violated a provision of the deal that requires Iran to arrange for safe transit through the Strait of Hormuz, leading to U.S. strikes.
“United States Armed Forces remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners and to ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States and to our allies and partners,” the letter says.
The War Powers Resolution limits military hostilities to 60 days unless Congress votes to authorize military force, with an extra 30-day grace period if the president determines more time is necessary to safely withdraw U.S. forces. The Trump administration has argued that provision of the law is unconstitutional, but it has never been tested in court, and some members of both parties have argued Mr. Trump should seek permission from Congress if hostilities last longer than 60 days.
Both the House and Senate passed a resolution last month seeking to limit Mr. Trump’s ability to carry out further military action against Iran without congressional authorization. Democrats have said they’re considering their legal options to force Mr. Trump to comply. The president has argued that he is acting under his constitutional authority.
The Senate later rejected a similar war powers measure, with some key Republicans suggesting they wanted to give more time for the Trump administration’s diplomatic push with Iran to play out.
Now, as the U.S. resumes strikes against Iran and as Mr. Trump expresses pessimism about U.S.-Iran negotiations, it’s unclear how Republican lawmakers will react.
Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a longtime critic of the Iran war, told reporters that the war “never stopped,” and argued the administration is not complying with the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day time limit.
“They’re literally trying to steer around it by pretending you can play stop-start and restart the clock,” he said Monday.
In a statement Monday, Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff of California said “any assertion by the Trump administration that he gets 60 more days to act without Congress has no foundation in law.”
Schiff announced that he had introduced a new war powers resolution that directs the removal of U.S. armed forces from hostilities with Iran and rejects the Trump administration’s assertion that the 60-day clock stopped in April when Tehran and Washington agreed to a ceasefire, though both sides continued to exchange fire.