WASHINGTON—The U.S. Senate on June 23 passed a resolution seeking to prevent U.S. forces from engaging in further hostilities with Iran unless they are first authorized by Congress.
The war powers resolution, which was presented pursuant to the framework set out in the 1973 War Powers Resolution, offers a symbolic rebuke of the military campaign Trump launched against Iran on Feb. 28, but lacks clear legal enforceability without the president's signature.
Tuesday's war powers vote also comes days after the Trump administration enacted a memorandum of understanding with Iran, which included an immediate ceasefire and continuing negotiations for a longer-lasting diplomatic resolution to the current standoff.
Democrats had led several previous attempts to pass a war powers resolution concerning the Iran conflict, but hadn’t managed to gather enough votes for it to pass in the Republican-controlled Senate.
“We're once again going to put Republicans on record on whether they want his disaster, Trump's disastrous war, to continue by forcing a vote,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said at a press conference ahead of the Tuesday afternoon vote.
Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Bill Cassidy (R-La.), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) voted in favor of the Democrat-led war powers resolution.
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) voted to join with the majority of Republicans who voted against the resolution.
Sens. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) did not vote.
Trump is set to meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday, where he may address concerns from within his party about the recent memorandum of understanding with Tehran.
Last week, Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) told Reuters that he’s concerned the framework Trump entered into “negotiates away” U.S. military successes against Iran, and unduly constrains Israeli military operations in Lebanon.
In a June 17 post on X, Cassidy also criticized the memorandum as not doing enough to curb Iran’s nuclear program while reducing military and economic pressure against Tehran.
“Before the war, the strait was open, Iran was being crushed by sanctions, and 13 service members were still alive. Now, 13 Americans are dead, families have paid billions at the pump, sanctions will be lifted, and the bombing has stopped,” Cassidy wrote. “This is the worst foreign policy blunder in decades.”
Trump has defended his handling of the Iran conflict and his decision to enter into the memorandum of understanding, which sets an initial 60-day window for continued negotiations.
“We didn’t meet out of desperation, Iran did. They are FINISHED!” Trump wrote in a June 19 post on Truth Social. “We’ll play out the 60 days. They get no money, not ten cents!
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) voiced support for the deal in an interview with KCMO Radio, saying Trump chose “a path to lasting peace—not another forever war.”