Trump is racing against time.. Will Congress stop the war on Iran? | news

When US President Donald Trump announced last Wednesday the extension of the truce with Iran, it was noteworthy that he did not set a date for its end and did not set a mandatory timetable for the resumption of negotiations as he had done in the past, confining himself to confirming the continuation of the US naval blockade of Iranian ports awaiting Tehran’s response.

But Trump, who has become accustomed to setting time limits since the outbreak of this war, now has a legal deadline that worries him, the halls of the US Congress, and its date is the first of next May. What is this deadline, and will the American president get authorization to continue the war?

Trump and the War Powers Act

The War Powers Act requires the president to obtain explicit authorization from Congress to continue military operations outside the country after 60 days, so Trump now has less than a week, as next Friday, May 1, marks 60 days since the start of the war against Iran.

This federal law was drafted in 1973 with the aim of restricting the power of the US President to involve the country in armed conflicts abroad.

To give Trump a mandate to continue the war against Iran, the House of Representatives and the Senate must pass a joint resolution in favor of continuing the war – by a simple majority in each – within this specified deadline, which has not happened so far. However, US presidents have previously circumvented this law, using other means as a basis for continued military operations.

Limited time window

The War Powers Act requires the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of the start of military action, and he can continue deploying troops for only 60 days, unless Congress grants him a 30-day extension, or approves an authorization allowing a longer-term military commitment.

In order to extend the 60-day window for an additional 30 days, the president must certify in writing to Congress that the continued use of armed force results from “unavoidable military necessity,” says Maryam Jamshidi, an associate professor of law at the University of Colorado School of Law.

She adds: “After this 90-day window, the President is required to end the deployment of US armed forces if Congress does not declare war or otherwise authorize continued military action.”

She continues, “There is no clear legal path for Congress to force the president to adhere to the requirements for ending the military operation, and previous presidents have previously refused to do so, claiming that this part of the War Powers Act is inconsistent with the Constitution.”

Will Congress issue authorization to continue the war?

As it stands, it is uncertain whether Congress will grant the Trump administration authorization to continue military action against Iran due to the deep divisions between Democrats and Republicans in the House.

On April 15, an attempt by members of both the Republican and Democratic parties in the US Senate to restrict Trump’s authority with the aim of preventing him from continuing military operations against Iran, using the War Powers Act, was unsuccessful. The result of the vote in that attempt, which was the fourth in this regard, was 52 votes against the measure compared to 47 votes in favor of it.

Numerous statements by American representatives reflect the extent of rejection of this war, perhaps the most recent of which is a statement by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy, in which he said: “We should not overlook how strange it is that our Republican leadership in the Senate refuses to exercise any oversight over a war that costs billions of dollars every week.”

Although Republicans in Congress refused to interfere in the president’s decisions during the 60 days granted to him by law, many of them insisted that Congress’ approval would be necessary after this period.

In April, Republican Senator John Curtis wrote: “I support the actions the President has taken in defense of American lives and interests. However, I will not support continued military action beyond the 60-day window without the approval of Congress. I take this position for two reasons: one historic, one constitutional.”

In turn, Republican Congressman Don Bacon told American media: Under the law, we must either agree to the continuation of military operations or stop them. If approval is not granted, military operations must be halted by law.

Some Republicans, who have firmly supported Trump’s war against Iran so far, are also concerned about the possibility of the war extending, which limits the chances of obtaining authorization from Congress to continue it.

Although some Republican representatives have obstructed efforts to restrict the president’s powers to issue orders related to the war against Iran so far, some of them confirmed that they may vote differently if they fear that the war will continue for more than two months.

Will Trump continue the war after the deadline expires?

Political analysts do not rule out that the American President will seek to continue the military escalation against Iran after the legal deadline expires, as he needs to seize a victory to market to the American people.

In this regard, Salar Mohandisi, a professor of history at Bowdoin College in Brunswick in the United States, points out the repercussions of the war and its impact on Trump’s popularity. The war was terrible for Trump, as opinion polls show continued opposition from the American public to it, but he is likely to continue it in one form or another.

In statements to Al Jazeera, Mohandeshi points out the need for Trump to achieve a victory in this war, and says, “Trump told the American public that he could extract a deal from the Iranians that was better than the one that came before it, and he promised that he would not get involved in a war, and his party, besieged by crises, is about to run in the midterm elections in the midst of a historically unpopular war.”

He adds: Trump can still withdraw and stop the bleeding, so to speak, but that means accepting defeat. He’s a gambler, so it’s very likely he’ll keep escalating in hopes of eventually achieving some sort of victory.

Experts say that the question now is how Trump will continue the war if necessary, and what ways he may take to circumvent the law that requires him to obtain authorization from Congress, if he does not obtain that authorization.

Can Trump circumvent Congress’ mandate?

What is known as the “authorization to use military force” provides another potential legal basis for continuing the war against Iran, as this authorization gives the president the authority to use force to achieve specific goals, without the need to declare war.

This authorization was granted for the first time in the history of the United States in 2001 after the famous September 11 attacks that targeted the World Trade Centers in New York. Its purpose is to enable the United States to wage what is known as the “War on Terror,” as it was granted again in 2002 to allow the then American administration to overthrow Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and authorize the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Successive American administrations have used these authorizations to justify the launch of extensive military operations abroad.

In Trump’s first term, the 2002 authorization was used to order the assassination of prominent Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.

A report issued by Congress in 2015 on the authorization to use military force indicates that former President Barack Obama relied on the 2001 authorization related to the so-called “War on Terror” to continue the American war in Afghanistan and launch new military operations against ISIS in Syria.

The bottom line is that American legislation may enable Trump to circumvent the legal deadline that requires him to obtain legislative authorization to continue or stop his war on Iran.