The US House of Representatives passed a measure that seeks to halt President Donald Trump from taking further military action in Iran.
The 215-208 vote was successful after four Republicans joined Democrats in a rare public show of disapproval of the war, which began in February. This is the fourth attempt by the House to rein in Trump’s war powers, which critics say lack congressional approval.
The House resolution still needs approval from the Republican-controlled US Senate. Even if it were successful in the Senate, the measure is unlikely to fully curb military action against Iran.
Trump could veto the measure, which would require a two-thirds majority in both chambers to nullify.
The Senate advanced a similar resolution in May, after seven previous failed attempts, but it has yet to reach a full floor vote.
In the House, Republicans Thomas Massie, Brian Fitzpatrick, Tom Barrett, and Warren Davidson joined a united front from Democrats to pass Wednesday’s resolution. Democrat Jared Golden of Maine, who had previously voted against similar measures, gave his support this time.
“Congress alone declares war, that’s something certainly we need to be protective of,” Barrett, a Republican from Michigan, said. Asked if he was worried about retribution from Trump for his vote, Barrett said: “I vote my conscience for what I think is right and willing to accept that.”
It marked the latest sign of division within the Trump’s Republican Party, coming just days after a revolt by conservatives in Congress led his administration to pull back plans for a $1.8b “anti-weaponization” fund for political allies.
Representative Gregory Meeks, the leading Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs committee, described the vote as “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”.
Meeks said that Trump had failed to achieve the war’s stated aims while pushing up fuel prices at home and making a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear programme even more difficult to achieve.
“The passage of this [measure] today signals a significant turning point: more and more Republicans are listening to their constituents who do not want another open-ended war in the Middle East,” Meeks, who co-sponsored the resolution, said.
Despite a ceasefire agreement, the US has struck Iran in recent days with Tehran responding with strikes on Kuwait, a US ally. Ahead of the vote, Trump again asserted that negotiations to end the war are going “very well” and could be finalised as soon as this weekend.
“We hit them pretty hard the night before, and actually last night,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, referring to strikes in Iran. “Some people would say they were slightly provoked because we took a strong action for a different reason, so they were reciprocating.”
The president added that most of the members of his administration are hoping to end the conflict soon with a deal “without killing everybody”.
“In theory they’re pretty close to signing a paper, we’ve actually gotten along with them very well.”–BBC
