Lawmakers Splinter On Trump Administration’s Case For War On Iran

Republicans and Democrats are sharply divided after hearing the Trump administration’s case for war with Iran for the first time behind closed doors on Tuesday.

The partisan split-screen on President Donald Trump’s military campaign reinforces the likelihood that Congress won’t act to rein in the president in the coming days with war powers legislation. And it underscores Trump’s continued sway over the GOP, even as the administration has offered shifting reasons — at least in public — in the days since the president chose to attack Iran.

“Their objectives were very clear,” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.). He added that the operations should be wrapped up soon. “They’re moving fast. … I think weeks, not months.”

Top administration officials briefed senators, and later House members, in a classified session as they sought to firm up their message that the Iran campaign is targeted at Tehran’s missiles and other military capabilities, rather than an open-ended regime change war.

While Republicans appeared to largely close ranks behind the administration’s rationale, Democrats said the sessions only further convinced them that the campaign will suck the U.S. into another protracted conflict in the Middle East.

“This is the most significant military action that this country has taken since the Iraq war,” Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told reporters after the briefing. “They told us in there that this is an open-ended operation that hasn’t even really started in earnest. There will be more Americans killed. They refuse to take off the table the insertion of ground troops.”

Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) said he emerged from the briefing “as confused as the American people are over this.”

“They have had three or four or five justifications for this act of war over the last four or five days, and nothing in this classified session,” Schatz said. “They offered no clear ending. They have not answered the most basic questions.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine and CIA director John Ratcliffe briefed the full Senate, followed by the House. Rubio said Monday on Capitol Hill that the administration opted to attack Iran in response to an “imminent threat” that Tehran could retaliate against U.S. personnel if attacked by Israel.

Hegseth, meanwhile, said Monday at the Pentagon that the operation is “not an endless war.”

Still, officials did not rule out deploying ground troops, according to multiple lawmakers.

“The Trump administration is doing everything that they can not to tell the American people the real reason why it was absolutely necessary to go to war,” added Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

But one of the administration’s top allies, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), said the “demise of this regime is at hand” in Iran with attacks expected to pick up in the coming days.

“They mean it when they say ‘Death to America,’ I’m glad we didn’t let it go further. I’m glad we didn’t let them build more missiles,” Graham said. “I’ve never felt better about how this ends. It’s not if they fall. It’s when they fall.”

The session comes a day before the Senate is expected to vote on a resolution from Sens. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to require congressional consent for further military operations. A vote on similar legislation from Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) is expected later this week.

But ahead of those votes, few Republicans appear willing to contradict Trump and vote to rein him in. Several GOP senators who have been on the fence in previous war powers efforts — including Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Todd Young of Indiana — declined to say how they’d vote on the resolution, which could come to the Senate floor as soon as Wednesday.

One House Republican who has expressed concerns with Trump’s military campaign, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), declined to say if Tuesday’s briefings swayed him at all.

But even if some GOP lawmakers break with the president, Democrats aren’t fully united on legislation to rebuke Trump. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.) backed the attacks and is likely to oppose his party’s efforts. In the House, several Democrats have indicated they won’t support Massie and Khanna’s resolution.

That would give Republican leaders in both chambers ample room to maneuver. Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday expressed confidence that House Republicans will muster the votes to defeat a war powers vote.

Emerging from the classified briefing, several Republicans downplayed concerns that the ongoing operations would drag on, drain munitions supplies, or that the objectives were nebulous.

Sen. Deb Fischer (R-Neb.), who noted concerns the operations might drain munitions stockpiles, said the military operation was entering a new phase that would require fewer sophisticated missile interceptors that are in high demand.

It’s unclear how long GOP unity will last. Republicans and the White House are facing pressure from a growing cohort of MAGA commentators and activists who worry the president is dragging the United States into another “forever war” through the strikes in Iran. Those concerns have mounted as the number of U.S. casualties have increased.

Rep. Michael McCaul (R-Texas), a former Foreign Affairs Committee chair, conceded there are still “a lot of questions about what happens next,” but noted Rubio’s argument that the campaign aims to degrade Iran’s military capability. He also predicted war powers legislation will fail.

“I’ve always raised the issues,” McCaul said. “You can go in and break something in the Middle East, but then you own it.”

But some Republicans argued the briefing would satisfy concerns from some voices in the president’s base.

“I think if people heard what we just heard, they’d understand we had no choice. President Trump did his job, basically, took preemptive action to protect the country, and he’ll always do that,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) said. “This will be over very quickly.”

At least one GOP lawmaker, Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), appeared to voice openness to MAGA concerns, calling on voters to be “vigilant.”

“Hold our feet to the fire,” Burchett told reporters.

Eric Bazail-Eimil contributed to this report.