Trump Iran strategy faces growing confusion over war powers and objectives
by Jed Babbin · The Washington TimesOPINION:
The dominant train of thought about the Iran war is now very confused and nearly derailed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the ceasefire interrupted the count of days before President Trump, under the possibly unconstitutional War Powers Resolution, was required to obtain congressional authorization for the use of military force.
That is not the case. The clock runs regardless of any ceasefire.
The president, meanwhile, sent letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate President Pro Tempore Charles E. Grassley saying the ceasefire effectively ended military operations against Iran and that “the hostilities that began on Feb. 28, 2026, have terminated.”
That cannot be reconciled, as others have pointed out, with our blockade of Iranian ports, which is obviously an act of war.
Meanwhile, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican, said she would offer a resolution authorizing the use of military force on Iran when the Senate returns from its latest vacation.
It wouldn’t be open-ended authorization, Ms. Murkowski said, but rather one that establishes a framework requiring the administration to define clear political/military objectives, metrics for success and exit criteria (whatever that means).
Whatever the outcome of the War Powers Resolution debate, Mr. Trump faces not just the fog of war but also the fog of politics that affects every war effort. He will have few followers and fewer defenders at the debate’s end, which won’t arrive as long as our forces are involved with Iran.
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Meanwhile, the Democrats are cheering on Iran.
When the Democrats aren’t hoping for our defeat in the Iran war, they are castigating the president for doing what badly needs doing. For example, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said last week that the war was “illegal,” “built on lies” and “without justification.”
She criticized the president harshly for ending President Obama’s 2015 nuclear deal with Iran.
The fact that Iran was violating that deal by enriching uranium to 60% (it takes little more effort to enrich it to weapons-grade, 90%) seems not to matter to Ms. Warren or the rest of the Democrats.
Let’s try to sort out all this.
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Mr. Trump has let the 60-day limit under the War Powers Resolution expire and has not asked Congress for another authorization of the use of military force, as President George W. Bush did for Afghanistan and Iraq. (Congress no longer declares war. It relies on the War Powers Resolution to authorize military action.)
The War Powers Resolution was an attempt to reconcile Congress’ sole power to declare war under Article 1, Clause 8 of the Constitution with the president’s power under Article 2, Section 2 as commander in chief of the armed forces.
The War Powers Resolution was enacted over President Nixon’s veto in 1973. Mr. Trump argues that the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional, but the courts have to decide that.
Mr. Trump cannot ignore the question. He could go to court to challenge the resolution, but that would take longer than the congressional debate, and a court challenge could fail.
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Iran will not negotiate any end to its nuclear ambitions. The ayatollahs’ regime will certainly resume its nuclear weapons program as soon as it can.
As this column has said repeatedly, the ayatollahs’ regime needs only to survive to win this war. Because Mr. Trump has said the overthrow of the regime is not one of his goals, the Iranians have already won.
The lack of a person with whom we can negotiate is another problem. The Israelis and we have killed many potential leaders, including, possibly, the new “supreme leader,” Mojtaba Khamenei. Mr. Trump has previously said that we were negotiating with the speaker of Iran’s parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, but Mr. Qalibaf is not in control.
The only person who may be in charge is Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Commander Brig. Gen. Ahmad Vahidi, who will never compromise Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
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Our only hope is that the Iranian economy will crash — and with it, the regime — because it cannot export oil. Still, hope is not a strategy.
We can sustain the blockade for many months if Congress doesn’t interrupt our effort. Even that may not bring about regime change without a popular uprising. That appears impossible because the Iranian people are still too fearful of the regime.
Confusion now reigns, as it has in many wars. Mr. Trump should deliver a major Oval Office speech to Congress, requesting authorization to continue the war and outlining his major objectives.
Unless he does, he will face congressional action that may bring the war to a crashing halt.
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• Jed Babbin is a national security and foreign affairs columnist for The Washington Times and a contributing editor for The American Spectator.