Senate rebukes Trump by calling for end to Iran war with House-passed resolution
The Senate on Tuesday approved a War Powers Resolution previously passed in the House that rebukes President Donald Trump by calling for an end to the U.S. war against Iran.
Subscribe to read this story ad-free
Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.
The resolution passed 50-48, with four Senate Republicans joining almost all Democrats in support of the measure. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., opposed the resolution, and two Republicans did not vote.
The nonbinding measure is the sharpest symbolic pushback on the war in Iran from Capitol Hill.
The House voted this month to pass the same Democratic-led measure to end Trump’s war in Iran, offering a rare reprimand of Trump.
The resolution “directs the President to remove U.S. Armed Forces from hostilities against Iran unless explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or a congressional authorization for use of military force against Iran.”
The Senate has voted on a War Powers Resolution nine other times, but none of those votes reached the simple majority threshold necessary to pass it until Tuesday.
The vote comes as several GOP senators have broken with Trump over his 14-point memorandum of understanding with Iran, including Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss.; Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark.; and Ted Cruz, R-Texas, pushing back on it.
Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 margin. Sens. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Pa., did not vote Tuesday. McConnell was hospitalized this month. His office said yesterday that he would not vote this week.
The vote comes the day after Vice President JD Vance departed Switzerland, following high-level talks between the U.S. and Iran. Vance said the talks had laid a “good foundation” for a final deal.
Vance and Trump have insisted that Iran agreed to allow the United Nations to examine Iranian nuclear sites, which Iran fiercely denied. Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday for talks with officials who have been mediating negotiations between Tehran and Washington.
