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Why did the U.S. launch military strikes against Iran? What is the American objective? How will we know when it’s been accomplished? Is the Trump administration ready and willing to commit American troops to the effort? How long will the U.S. continue military operations? What are the plans for after the bombings? How long will that U.S. commitment last?
These are just some of the unanswered questions surrounding the military operations against Iran that President Donald Trump announced on Saturday. With so many unanswered questions, it is imperative that Congress reclaim its constitutionally mandated powers around wars. It is too late for Congress to stop military strikes, but it is not too late for its members to demand clarity and accountability for a military operation that has already spread beyond Iran and is likely to grow in complexity and U.S. commitment.
It is especially concerning that the president said the United States has enough weapons to fight “forever.” While this may technically be true, we don’t have the financial resources. The U.S. has already spent more $1 billion on military operations related to Iran in one day.
The U.S. Senate is expected to debate and vote on a war powers resolution this week. If recent history is a guide, the measure will fail. Republicans in January blocked an effort to restrain the Trump administration’s military operations in Venezuela, which included the forceful removal of the country’s leader. Sen. Susan Collins was one of three Republicans to support the measure. The operations in Iran are bigger, and more dangerous for the U.S. and the world.
While Collins criticized the Iranian regime in a statement on Saturday, she said: “Sustained combat operations require full engagement with Congress.” Sen. Angus King has long called for Congress to reclaim its powers regarding the use of U.S. military force, a point he reiterated in a statement on Saturday in light of the many unanswered questions about operations in Iran.
To be clear, the ruling regime in Iran was brutal and undemocratic. The recent killings of thousands of protesters was only the most recent example of the murderous hardline enforced by an unpopular regime. But, it is unclear that the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ends the theocratic stranglehold on Iran. It is also unclear what comes next. The next ruler could be no better.
It is also clear that Iran’s nuclear ambitions posed grave danger to the Middle East and perhaps the broader world. But, it is unclear how close Iran was to developing nuclear weapons.
Nearly a decade ago, international inspectors confirmed that Iran’s nuclear weapons program was halted by an agreement negotiated by then President Barack Obama. Trump essentially tore up that agreement during his first term in office. So, if Iran really has nuclear weapons, when did they build them?
In June, Trump bragged that U.S. air strikes had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapons capability. If that were true, how can Iran now have weapons that will “soon” pose a threat to the United States, as the president asserted during his State of the Union Address last week? Despite this assertion from the president, U.S. defense officials say the country did not have a weapon that could reach the U.S.
Which claims are true and which are not? This doublespeak is compounded by the fact that the administration fired intelligence experts on foreign threats, particularly those from Iran and its proxies, just days before the U.S. attacks on Iran were launched.
Congress must clarify the reality and share it with the American people, before more American lives are lost and taxpayer money wasted, and an entire region is destabilized. With so much conflicting and changing information coming from the Trump administration, the oversight and decision-making role of Congress is vitally important as military operations in Iran continue, and perhaps escalate.
Now, more than ever, Congress must fulfill its duties and obligations to the American people. It does not do so by being a rubberstamp to an untrustworthy and opaque administration.
