US Strikes Iran for Second Day: Is This a Violation of the War Powers Resolution? | Explanatory news

The U.S. decision to carry out strikes against Iran not only sparked retaliation from Tehran, but also drew criticism from a Democratic lawmaker who accused Republican President Donald Trump of violating a war powers resolution passed by Congress.

Congress passed the resolution Tuesday, saying the president must either stop his military campaign against Iran or seek congressional approval before taking further action.

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Rep. Ro Khanna, a Democrat from California, condemned the latest U.S. attacks on Iran, calling them a “blatant violation” of the congressional resolution and threatening to sue Trump over the issue.

The US military’s Central Command struck Iranian military sites on Saturday after accusing Tehran of targeting a ship crossing the Strait of Hormuz, which has become the center of a geopolitical confrontation between the two countries.

In response, Tehran struck US military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait on Sunday as the two sides exchanged strikes for the second time over the weekend, threatening to destroy the fragile Iran-US memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed on June 17.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to strike Lebanon despite a framework agreement signed on Friday and the memorandum of understanding calling for an end to the war on all fronts, including in Lebanon.

So is Trump breaking the law and can Congress stop him from attacking Iran?

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, left, and President Donald Trump arrive for a luncheon at the Capitol on June 24, 2026, during which Trump chastised Senate Republicans for passing the war powers resolution. [Cliff Owen/AP]What is the War Powers Resolution of 1973?

The War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of the engagement of armed forces in hostilities and prohibits sustained military action after 60 days, pending congressional approval.

The Senate voted on Tuesday for the 10th time to try to slow down the war launched by the United States and Israel against Tehran on February 28.

The Senate passed the resolution by a vote of 50 to 48, although Trump’s Republican Party enjoys a slim majority within the party and in the House of Representatives. Four Republicans voted in favor of the resolution, which is not binding.

The House also passed the measure on June 3 by a vote of 215 to 208.

Speaking on the Senate floor before the vote, Democrat Chuck Schumer said: “For years, Trump promised to put maximum pressure on Iran, but he ended up causing maximum confusion, maximum chaos and maximum cost to the American people with his disastrous war. »

“The American people paid the price for Trump’s historic blunder in Iran. It will go down in the history books as one of the worst foreign policy forays America has ever made,” he added.

The war against Iran is unpopular in the United States, where less than a quarter of citizens believe the war is worth it, an Ipsos/Reuters poll suggests.

The vote on the resolution came as the Pentagon also seeks $80 billion in aid from Congress, primarily for the war in Iran, in an effort to replenish munitions and stockpiles depleted during the conflict.

A map of Iran with images of some of those killed in the US-Israeli war against the country, seen along a highway in Tehran on June 17, 2026. [Atta Kenare/AFP]How was the resolution passed and what does it say?

Four Republicans crossed party lines to vote in favor of the Senate resolution: Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Susan Collins of Maine and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Two other Republicans, Mitch McConnell and Dave McCormick, did not vote on the resolution.

The resolution “directs the President to withdraw United States armed forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Only if “explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific authorization from Congress” would Trump be allowed to use more military force against Iran, he said.

The resolution, however, authorizes the maintenance of a limited military presence in the Middle East to prevent any “imminent attack” against the United States or its allies.

Trump called the vote “poorly timed and meaningless” and said it “brought aid and comfort” to Iran.

He chastised Republicans who voted for the resolution during a luncheon at the Capitol on Wednesday. That night, Cassidy changed his vote and Paul voted present as the Senate rejected a nearly identical war powers resolution 47-50 in an effort to appease the president.

Does Trump care?

At first glance, no.

The resolution is largely symbolic because it lacks the full force of law, even as it reflects House and Senate lawmakers’ distrust of the war and Trump’s memorandum of understanding with Iran to end it.

Under the U.S. Constitution, Congress has the sole authority to declare war, but presidents before Trump have gone to war without Congressional authorization.

Trump pointed to these precedents and told the Axios Show last week that he learned no “lessons” about the limits of his executive powers during the Iran war. “There are no limits,” he said.

The White House also rejected the Senate’s adoption of the resolution, stressing that it had “no meaning” and saying it was driven by “the absence of Republicans.”

“The resolution directs the President to withdraw U.S. armed forces from hostilities against Iran. Yet there is no hostility from which U.S. forces could be withdrawn, since hostilities ended with the ceasefire on April 7,” a White House official said in a statement Tuesday.

However, on Friday, Trump ordered U.S. forces to strike Iran, which his administration sees as a response to Tehran’s attack on a ship in the Strait of Hormuz.

Tehran has insisted that ships only use Iranian-approved routes to ensure safe passage. He opposed an alternative route closer to the Omani coast, recommended by the United States.

Iran said the new US attacks violated the memorandum of understanding signed by Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

Thousands of Trump critics participate in a “No Kings” protest on March 28, 2026 in New York. [Spencer Platt/AFP]Is Trump breaking the law?

Prior to this, no war powers resolution had been passed by either house of Congress in Washington, DC. A 1983 Supreme Court ruling noted that such a measure must be subject to the signature of “a president” to have legal effect.

US constitutional expert Bruce Fein told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that Trump would “ignore voting on the false fantasy of unconstitutionality”.

“Courts will refrain from intervening under the political question doctrine,” Fein said. “But Congress could end the war by ending requested funding [for] by Trump. What he is doing is clearly an impeachable offense, which will haunt Trump if November turns Congress over to the Democrats.”

Unlike previous administrations, Trump did not adopt Authorizations for the Use of Military Force (AUMF), which authorize the use of military force without a declaration of war. For example, following the attacks of September 11, 2001, Congress passed an AUMF that gave then-President George W. Bush broad powers to wage what would become the “war on terror.”

The constitutionality of the 1973 War Powers Resolution, however, will likely be decided by the courts, as Democrat Khanna threatens.

“Trump must stop this war now – or we will take him to court to force him to do so,” Khanna wrote on X on Saturday evening after the United States struck Iranian targets for the second day in a row.

Is the region once again in the grip of real fighting?

Hassan Ahmadian, an associate professor at the University of Tehran, told Al Jazeera the attacks could trigger a domino effect of strikes between the United States and Iran.

“I think we are ready for an escalation because obviously the Iranians will retaliate,” he said.

Ahmadian argued that Article 5 of the MoU states that “Iran will make the necessary arrangements for the safe passage of commercial vessels” for 60 days, and after that it will be “Iran and Oman who will make the arrangements.”

“And now the United States wants to put in place arrangements different from the memorandum of understanding that it itself signed,” he said. “What we see is the United States trying to get out of this memorandum of understanding while forcing Iran to abide by its terms. »

The United States did the same in Lebanon by negotiating a new framework agreement, he said, adding that the Iranians “won’t let this go.”

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