The House of Representatives has for the first time approved a war powers resolution that would halt the US military action against Iran.
A handful of Republicans defied US President Donald Trump as they joined with Democrats to vote to end the three-month-long conflict.
House speaker Mike Johnson had tried to prevent an outcome that would show the mounting opposition to the war by abruptly shutting down floor action two weeks ago when the resolution was on the verge of approval. But displeasure has only grown as the conflict drags on and as Mr Trump struggles to negotiate a plan for peace.
“Enough is enough,” said representative Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, who led the effort.
“It is time for the president to do the right thing,” he said. “The people are tired of suffering because of his war of choice — suffering at the gas pump, suffering at the supermarkets.”
The roll call on Wednesday was 215-208, but next steps are uncertain. Mr Trump would likely reject any measure from Congress to limit his commander-in-chief authority. Still, the tally, with four Republicans joining Democrats, was a rebuke of the president’s war strategy, and cheers erupted in the House chamber.
It is the fourth time the House has tried to curb the US war against Iran. The Senate advanced its own war powers resolution last month when a handful of Republican senators broke ranks with the president in a rare show of political pushback from his party.
Each time Democrats have pushed forward the war powers resolution, the vote tallies have inched higher as political unease with the US war grows. Mr Trump had campaigned for the White House on a promise to end US entanglements abroad and focus more on domestic issues, but the war has shifted attention back to the Middle East.
Mr Johnson insisted Mr Trump is “laser focused” on the domestic front, particularly ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
The speaker said he spent three hours at the White House with the president this week and Mr Trump is calling on allies to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz and resume the flow of commerce.
Since the US joined Israel in launching the February 28 strikes on Iran, Americans have seen gas prices spike at the pumps, adding to inflationary pressure on consumer spending.
Iran has been able to interrupt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital channel for a large segment of the world’s oil, natural gas and related products such as fertiliser.
“We’re working on that final piece,” said Mr Johnson. “The entire world has an interest in the Strait of Hormuz being reopen for commerce. That’s what he’s working on.”
While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain. Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged on, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. Meanwhile, military strikes between the US and Iran continue to flare.
The war powers resolution from the House would not immediately stop the war, but it would provide a symbolic – if not legal – step against further military action.
The resolution next goes to the Senate, where four Republican senators last month joined Democrats in advancing a similar measure to curtail the US campaign against Iran. The Senate has yet to take a final vote to approve or reject its own war powers resolution.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio warned on Wednesday at a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing that the Iranians would think that the administration’s “hands are going to be tied” if Congress approved a war powers resolution. He said they would think “we won’t be able to do anything to them, so why make a deal?”
It is not the only action Congress is taking in the national security arena as Democrats, in the minority, work to peel off Republican support for measures beyond the war against Iran.
The House also voted on Wednesday on another Democratic-led effort, a procedural step towards a measure that would authorise US support for Ukraine’s military operations as it battles Russia and would help reconstruct the war-torn country. That vote is expected later this week. The House is also expected to consider a war powers resolution to block US action in Lebanon.
While Congress has the authority under the US constitution to declare war, the president also has power as the commander in chief to engage in military action, creating a legal dispute over which branch of government has ultimate say in matters of war and peace. If the Senate joins the House to approve the resolution, it could set the stage for a fresh legal test of war powers.
Under the war powers act, the White House has a 60-day window to seek approval from Congress for military action. The administration, however, has indicated that because a ceasefire has been declared in the current conflict in Iran, the hostilities have ceased.
