U.S. lawmakers have lashed out at President Donald Trump for launching an illegal war with no credible explanation, no authorization from Congress, and no clear end in sight.
In an eight-minute video posted to social media around 3 a.m. on Saturday morning, Trump declared that the U.S, in conjunction with Israel, had begun a “massive and ongoing” military campaign targeting Iranian missile systems, naval forces, and what he called “terrorist proxies.”
The president told the Iranian people to “stay indoors” as bombs dropped on Tehran, but he also urged, “when we are finished, take over your government.”
He warned “the lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties” but that “often happens in war.”
But Democrats and Republicans have hit out at the move, branding it as illegal and a blatant violation of domestic and international law.
The Constitution grants only Congress the power to declare war—a safeguard against precisely this kind of unilateral executive action.
“Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk,” said Democrat Ro Khanna, who has drafted new laws with Republican Thomas Massie designed to prevent Trump from starting a war without congressional approval.
“Congress must convene on Monday to vote on Thomas Massie and my war powers resolution to stop this war... We don’t want to be at war with a country of 90 million people in the Middle East.”
Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego, who served in Iraq, agreed.
“I lost friends in Iraq to an illegal war,” he said.
“Young working-class kids should not pay the ultimate price for regime change and a war that hasn’t been explained or justified to the American people.
“We can support the democracy movement and the Iranian people without sending our troops to die.”
Senator Andy Kim, a former diplomat who has also worked in the Pentagon, said that by launching strikes against Iran, Trump “has made the same dangerous and foolish decision President Bush did a generation ago” with the war in Iraq.
At the time, Bush insisted that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction and posed an immediate threat. After the invasion, no WMD stockpiles were found.
“He put Americans in harm’s way without clearly showing there’s an imminent threat to our national security,” Kim said of Trump’s decision.
And Mark Warner, a Democrat who serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, added in a statement: “We have seen this playbook before—claims of urgency, misrepresented intelligence and military action that pulls the United States into regime change and prolonged, costly nation building.
“The president owes the country clear answers: What is the objective? What is the objective? What is the strategy to prevent escalation? And how does this make Americans safer?” he asked.
Trump insists the strike is necessary because Iran has nuclear ambitions that could one day reach U.S. soil.
But just months ago, when the U.S. first joined Israel to strike Iran, the president boasted that the military had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities and it would take “years” to rebuild.
The U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) said last year that it would take almost a decade for Iran to build weapons that could reach the U.S.
But in his joint sitting to Congress on Tuesday night, the president told the audience: “They’ve already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they’re working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
The issue is particularly contentious for Republicans as they head towards the midterm elections.
Figures such as MAGA warrior Steve Bannon and former Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene have all spoken out forcefully about U.S. intervention.
Not long after Trump announced the strike, the Twittersphere also lit up with calls for impeachment—something that could become reality if Democrats seize control of Congress in November.
“Americans do not want to go to war with Iran!!!” Greene exclaimed on X last week.
“They want to be able to afford their lives and get ahead. They want to be happy and enjoy life. They want their government to put elite pedos in jail. And they voted for NO MORE FOREIGN WARS AND NO MORE REGIME CHANGE.”
Vice President JD Vance had sought to assuage MAGA concerns on Friday, telling the Washington Post there was “no chance” the U.S would become embroiled in a years-long conflict if military action occurred.
However, this countered analysts and critics who predicted a prolonged conflict if the U.S escalated.
“I think we all prefer the diplomatic option,” said Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who came to office opposition U.S. involvement in foreign entanglements.
“But it really depends on what the Iranians do and what they say.”
