President Trump sent letters to Congress on Friday making the case that a Vietnam-era law requiring him to seek congressional authorization to continue military operations in Iran did not apply because the conflict was in a cease-fire.
In the letters — sent to House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana and Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the president pro tempore of the Senate — Mr. Trump said that he was writing to inform them “of changes in the posture of United States Forces” and reiterated his administration’s position that a cease-fire he declared on April 7 had stopped the clock on the war.
Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, if presidents deploy American forces into hostilities without congressional authorization, they must end the operation after 60 days if the legislative branch does not grant permission for the continued use of forces on the mission. The law also allows the president a single 30-day extension, but only to safely bring troops home, not to extend combat.
But Mr. Trump’s letters made the case that there had “been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7,” and that hostilities the United States and Israel began on Feb. 28 “have terminated,” in an apparent attempt to avoid having to seek congressional approval. He did not mention that U.S. forces fired on an Iranian-flagged cargo ship on April 19.
And just hours later on Friday, the president undercut his own argument.
“You know we’re in a war,” Mr. Trump said in remarks in Florida. “Because I think you would agree we cannot let lunatics have a nuclear weapon.”
His administration’s position may not satisfy key Republicans who have, for weeks, pointed to the 60-day mark as the pivot point when the president’s unilateral authority to direct armed forces to attack Iran would run out, and Congress would have to decide whether to authorize a longer foreign war. Senior Democrats immediately rejected the assertion that the cease-fire had paused the clock, an argument the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, first put forward on Thursday.
Mr. Trump never sought congressional authorization for the military campaign he launched in February, when the United States and Israel began bombarding Iran with airstrikes. He formally notified lawmakers of the operation on March 2, starting the 60-day clock, which ran out on Friday.
Mr. Trump repeatedly asserted that the strikes he ordered in Iran earlier this year did not amount to a “war,” but rather a “military operation” or “excursion,” and has openly admitted that he has avoided calling it a “war” because he did not seek congressional approval. Still, he often uses the word war anyway.
On Friday, speaking to reporters outside the White House, Mr. Trump asserted that he didn’t need to ask Congress to extend the war “because it’s never been sought before,” and he claimed that the requirement was “unconstitutional.”
“We’re always in touch with Congress,” he said. “But nobody’s ever sought it before. Nobody’s ever asked for it before. It’s never been used before. Why should we be different?”
Congress has, in fact, authorized deployments into major hostilities past 60 days since the enactment of the War Powers Resolution, including major operations like the Persian Gulf War and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as smaller operations like a 1983 peacekeeping mission in Lebanon.
Democrats said the administration was not reflecting the reality on the ground, with tens of thousands of American troops still in the region and the president’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, an act of war under international law, still in effect.
“President Trump entered this war without a strategy and without legal authorization, and today’s announcement doesn’t change either fact,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top-ranked Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, who also sits on the Armed Services and Defense Appropriations panels, said in a statement.
Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, used an expletive to condemn the president’s declaration as nonsense. “This is an illegal war and every day Republicans remain complicit and allow it to continue is another day lives are endangered, chaos erupts and prices increase, all while Americans foot the bill,” he added in a statement.
The letters come as Mr. Trump still threatens to resume conflict with Iran if it does not allow shipping through the strait and give up its nuclear program.
Mr. Trump wrote that despite the United States’ military success in Iran, “the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our Armed Forces remains significant” and that the Defense Department “continues to update its force posture” in the region.
Charlie Savage and Zolan Kanno-Youngs contributed reporting.
