The Senate for the first time approved a war powers resolution, seeking to block US military action against Iran, as lawmakers warily watch President Donald Trump's efforts to resolve a conflict that the administration launched on its own and now needs Congress to fund.
It was the 10th time the Senate has tried to stop the war, and the outcome, on a vote of 50-48 on Tuesday, was a stunning turnaround from past efforts.
It was the first time both chambers of Congress had passed a resolution directing a president to remove U.S. armed forces from hostilities since the War Powers Resolution, more commonly known as the War Powers Act, was enacted in 1973. While likely to remain largely symbolic, the vote was a setback for Trump, who until recently had enjoyed near-unanimous support from Republican members of Congress.
While the resolution is largely symbolic, and does not carry the full force of law, it reflects the growing concerns from a number of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate over both the war and the deal Trump struck with Iran to end it. The House approved the resolution earlier this month.
Trump responded angrily Tuesday night on his Truth Social platform, calling the vote "poorly timed and meaningless" and saying it "provided aid and comfort" to Iran.
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer of New York said, "Time after time, the vast majority of Senate Republicans sided with Trump and his war instead of the American people."
Schumer said Americans 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."
In the past, as many as four GOP senators have voted for the war powers resolutions, and they did so Tuesday - Republicans Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. One Democrat, Sen John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, voted against.
Trump bashed the four Republicans as losers, saying, "These senators have made my job more difficult."
On this vote, the absence of two Republicans, including Sen Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who was admitted to the hospital recently for an undisclosed matter, left the GOP without a full majority to halt the effort. Sen Dave McCormick also missed the vote.
The vote comes as the Pentagon is seeking USD 80 billion from Congress mostly for the Iran war as it backfills munitions and stockpiles.
Trump himself is headed to the Capitol on Wednesday to meet with GOP senators after Vice President JD Vance was overseas working to negotiate with Iran to end its nuclear ambitions - which had been among the stated rationales for the war.
The president is not pleased with the Republicans who have been critical of the deal he struck with Iran, according to one GOP senator granted anonymity to discuss the private dynamics.
The terms of the Iran deal are spelled out in a memorandum of understanding that Trump signed last week, starting a 60-day clock for the sides to reach a broader agreement over ending Iran's nuclear programme.
But Republicans have particularly objected to the $300 billion fund to help Iran rebuild, which is far greater than the USD 1.7 billion then-President Barack Obama refunded the country under his administration's 2015 Iran deal.
"I believe President Trump is getting very poor advice on Iran," Senator Ted Cruz said last week on his podcast after the deal was made public.
Over and again, Democrats have been forcing votes on the Iran war, almost since the US and Israel launched missile strikes on Iran on Feb 28.
Nearly each week they're in session, the Senate Democrats have put forward war powers resolutions, but they have failed to amass the majority needed for passage in the narrowly split chamber, where Trump's Republican Party holds the majority. Trump would almost certainly veto any measure that passed.
The House pushed its own version to passage earlier this month, with four Republicans joining all Democrats in approving the war powers resolution, over the objections of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the GOP leadership.
While the House- and Senate-passed resolution does not go to the president for his signature, passage stands as a powerful, if symbolic, statement from Congress and a rebuke of the administration's military actions.
Sen Tim Kaine, the Democrat from Virginia who has led his party's efforts, said the pause in warfighting, as Trump's team works to shore up a fragile ceasefire, provides the perfect time for Congress to step back and assess "what should the next chapter be".
On Tuesday, a White House official said the Senate vote has no significance because the resolutions do not go to the president and have no force of law and the measure passed only because two Republicans were absent.
The official also said the resolution directs Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities, which the White House says were terminated with a ceasefire on April 7. Experts say the constitutionality of the War Powers Act likely will be settled in the courts.
"The executive branch will likely ignore it on constitutional grounds, and it’s not clear who might have standing to sue to enforce it," said Scott Anderson, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and senior editor of the online legal publication Lawfare.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth is on Capitol Hill this week, seeking roughly USD 80 billion in supplemental funding to shore up defense supplies in the aftermath of the Iran war, which is drawing scrutiny when many Americans are reeling from high gas prices and costs of living.
The Pentagon early on had estimated the war cost USD 11.3 billion during its first week, and senators said experts put the overall price tag of Operation Epic Fury higher, at some USD 100 billion.
The Defence Department's funding request is part of a broader beef-up of military money the White House wants as part of its budget request this year.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Tuesday, "We should not spend another dime of taxpayer dollars on Operation Epic Failure."
The Trump administration is seeking USD 1.5 trillion in defense funding this year - a nearly 50 per cent increase - including USD 350 billion that it wants in a so-called budget reconciliation package. Johnson and GOP leaders are working to pass that package on their own, over the objections of Democrats, much the way they approved Trump's big tax cuts bill last year.
The 2025 tax cuts package also included a sizable increase for the military.
Some Republicans recently balked at Trump's $1.8 billion "anti-weaponization" fund to compensate political allies he says have been targeted by federal authorities and stalled a $70 billion bill to fund his immigration crackdown. Reuters/Ipsos poll results released on Tuesday showed that just one in four Americans believe the war with Iran was worth its costs, and a majority worry that a truce with Tehran is unlikely to last.