The U.S House failed to pass a resolution to stop the use of U.S. armed forces and attacks on Iran on Mar. 5., allowing the Trump administration's military campaign in the Middle East to proceed.
The White House praised the House for rebuffing a bid to halt the military action in Iran, a day after a similar measure collapsed in the Senate. While the president has broad authority to launch military action without a formal declaration of war, Congress must by law be notified within 48 hours of hostilities beginning.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio maintained that the Trump administration met that requirement.
The bi-partisan bill, H.Con. Res. 38, was introduced by Rep. Thomas Massie from Kentucky, directed President Trump to remove armed forces from unauthorized hostilities in Iran. The bill had 94 cosponsors.
The resolution stated that Congress has the sole power to declare war under Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of the Constitution, with Section 5 stating that “at any time that United States Armed forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United State, its possession and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if Congress so directs.”
The House resolution failed which directed the president to terminate use of the military from hostilities in Iran with 219 Republicans voting against it.
The U.S. Senate also had a similar bill, S.J. Res. 104, sponsored by Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia with 27 cosponsors. The motion to discharge the resolution from the Foreign Relations Committee was rejected in a 47-53 vote. Most Republicans voted against the resolution, with the notable exception of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) who voted in favor. Most Democrats supported the measure, with Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) voting against it.
Meanwhile, President Trump said that he would exert pressure over Iran’s next supreme leader, saying that whoever is picked for the role without Washington’s approval is “not going to last long”, after Iranian state media reported that the Assembly of Experts had selected a new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the hours after the US and Israel launched a war on Iran on Feb. 28.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abbas Araghchi said Iran would allow no one to interfere with domestic affairs.
President Trump said this past Thursday that it would be a “waste of time” to consider sending U.S. ground troops to Iran, because they have lost everything they can lose.
Despite the Trump administration denying ground troops are in place, several Americans have died in the conflict and President Trump there will likely be more US casualties.
Thus far, five servicemembers who were part of an Iowa-based reserve unit have been killed as well as another from California and Colorado.
The U.S. military confirmed that last Monday, Kuwaiti air defenses “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles in an incident described as “an apparent friendly fire incident.” All six aircrew members from the F-15s safely ejected and were recovered.
The president has previously said there will likely be more US casualties in the Iran war.
The death toll in Iran had risen to 1,332, including 175 killed after an attack on a girl’s school. Israel reported 11 killed.
As the U.S. and Israel continue their bombardment of Iran and the conflict spreads through the region, the Trump administration has offered shifting justifications for the war, repeatedly pointing to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, its ballistic missile program, the totality of Iran’s actions in the region since the 1979 Islamic revolution, as well as Trump’s claim to having a “feeling” that Iran would strike first.
Now in its ninth day, U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran It is reported that 174 Iranian cities have been hit, and Iranian officials have accused the U.S. and Israel of intentionally striking civilian infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and sports stadiums.
Iran is continuing to retaliate across the Gulf. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps claims it’s inflicted significant damage on 20 U.S. military targets in Kuwait, Bahrain and the UAE. On Wednesday, NATO air defenses shot down a ballistic missile headed into Turkish airspace. Iran’s IRGC took credit for attacking a U.S. oil tanker in the Persian Gulf, a day after a U.S. submarine torpedoed an Iranian naval vessel off the coast of Sri Lanka, killing at least 87 people. The ship had been returning from India, where it took part in a major international naval exercise called Milan 2026. The U.S. had been invited to take part in the same exercise but pulled out.
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship, identified as the frigate IRIS Dena, in the Indian Ocean. Hegseth described the action, which occurred as the ship was returning from naval exercises in India, as a 'quiet death' for the vessel.
Sri Lankan authorities reported that of the crew of 180, 32 sailors were rescued, while at least 87 bodies were recovered. The incident drew criticism, with some accusing the U.S. of sinking a 'defenseless' ship that had been on a 'noncombat mission' returning from a port visit.
The U.S. Navy also failed to render aid to the survivors which is required by the Geneva Convention. Hegseth replied the report saying, rules of engagement are 'stupid.' Article 18 of the Second Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, which was adopted in 1949 and ratified by the U.S. Senate in 1955, states that 'After each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.'
While this provision of international humanitarian law, violation of which constitutes a war crime, applies to submarines as well as to surface ships.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi accused the U.S. Navy of committing an atrocity at sea. He said on social media, “Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set.”