{"id":643828,"date":"2026-05-02T00:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T00:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643828\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T00:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T00:28:12","slug":"us-iran-war-trump-says-deadline-for-congress-to-approve-iran-war-doesnt-apply-hostilities-have-terminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/643828\/","title":{"rendered":"US-Iran war: Trump says deadline for Congress to approve Iran war doesn’t apply: Hostilities have ‘terminated’"},"content":{"rendered":"

The White House<\/a> asserted to Congress in a letter that hostilities with Iran have \u201cterminated\u201d despite the continued presence of US<\/a> armed forces in the region.The message from US President Donald Trump<\/a> effectively skirts a May 1 legal deadline to gain approval from members of Congress to continue the war with Iran<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That deadline was already set to pass without action from Republican lawmakers who are deferring to the US president.<\/p>\n

\"DonaldDonald Trump has said hostilities in Iran are over. (AP)The letter brings into stark relief the bold but legally questionable assertion of presidential power at the heart of Trump\u2019s war<\/a>, which he began two months ago without congressional approval.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated,\u201d Trump wrote House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, the Senate president pro tempore.<\/p>\n

Yet he also made it clear in the letter that the war may be far from over.<\/p>\n

\u201cDespite the success of United States operations against the Iranian regime and continued efforts to secure a lasting peace, the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our Armed Forces remains significant,\u201d the US president said.<\/p>\n

Under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, Congress must declare war or authorise the use of force within 60 days, Friday was the deadline, or within 90 days if the president asks for an extension.<\/p>\n

This Congress did not attempt to enforce that requirement, leaving town Thursday for a week after the Senate rejected a Democratic attempt to halt the war for a sixth time.<\/p>\n

Some GOP senators are growing uneasy about the war\u2019s timeline, which Trump initially said would last a few weeks.<\/p>\n

But Trump’s letter showed how the president continues to forego congressional approval.<\/p>\n

It contends the deadlines set by the law do not apply because the war in Iran effectively ended when a shaky ceasefire began in early April.<\/p>\n

The Republican debate over the war<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said Thursday he did not plan on a vote to authorise force in Iran or otherwise weigh in.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m listening carefully to what the members of our conference are saying, and at this point I don\u2019t see that,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

The reluctance to defy Trump on the war comes at a politically perilous time for Republicans, with public frustration mounting both over the conflict and its impact on gas prices.<\/p>\n

Still, most GOP lawmakers say they are supportive of Trump\u2019s wartime leadership or are at least willing to give him more time amid the fragile ceasefire<\/a>.\"StraitIn this photo released by Tasnim News Agency, a Revolutionary Guard Navy (IRGC) speedboat approaches the cargo ship Epaminondas during what state media described as the seizure of one of two vessels accused of violations in the Strait of Hormuz, April 21, 2026 (Meysam Mirzadeh\/Tasnim News Agency via AP)<\/p>\n

Senator Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., said he would vote for an authorisation of war if Trump asked for it.<\/p>\n

But Cramer questioned whether the resolution passed during the Vietnam War era, as a way for Congress to claw back its power, was constitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur founders created a really strong executive, like it or not, like it,\u201d Cramer said.<\/p>\n

Some GOP senators did make it clear that they eventually want Congress to have a say.<\/p>\n

Indiana Senator Todd Young said in a statement that lawmakers \u201cmust ensure that the people, through their elected representatives, weigh in on whether to send our military into combat”.<\/p>\n

He added that since the Trump administration is stating that \u201cthe Iran conflict has ceased, there should be no hostilities moving forward,\u201d and that if the conflict resumes, he expects the White House to work with Congress to pass an authorisation for use of military force.<\/p>\n

Some Republicans signal they want a vote<\/p>\n

A handful of GOP senators have said for weeks that Congress should assert its authority over the war at some point.<\/p>\n

One of those, Maine’s Susan Collins, voted for the first time with Democrats on Thursday to halt the war.<\/p>\n

She said in a statement that she wants to see a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe president\u2019s authority as commander in chief is not without limits,” Collins said.<\/p>\n

She added that the 60-day deadline is \u201cnot a suggestion, it is a requirement”.<\/p>\n

\"UtahUtah Republican Senator John Curtis. (AP)<\/p>\n

In addition to Collins and Young, Republican Senators John Curtis of Utah, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Josh Hawley of Missouri, among others, have said they would eventually like to see a vote.<\/p>\n

Curtis said he would not support continued funding for the war until Congress votes to authorise it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is time for decision-making from both the administration and from Congress, and that can happen in league with one another, not in conflict,\u201d Curtis said.<\/p>\n

Thune suggested the White House step up its outreach to lawmakers through briefings and hearings if it wants continued support from Capitol Hill.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, getting readouts from our military leadership on a somewhat regular basis, I think, will be helpful in terms of shaping the views of our members about how comfortable they are with everything that\u2019s happening there, and the direction headed forward,\u201d Thune said.<\/p>\n

Administration argues the deadline doesn’t apply<\/p>\n

With the 60-day window under the War Powers Resolution expiring Friday, Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> said during a congressional hearing Thursday, \u201cWe are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means, the 60-day clock pauses or stops”.The administration is making that argument even though Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>, and the US Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran\u2019s oil tankers from getting out to sea.<\/p>\n

Trump echoed Hegseth\u2019s argument and stressed that other presidents had similarly not sought congressional approval as laid out under the 1973 law.<\/p>\n

\"USUS Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth appears before a House Committee on Armed Services business meeting on the Department of Defense Fiscal Year 2027 on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, April 29, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo\/Rod Lamkey Jr.)<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery other president considered it totally unconstitutional, and we agree with that,\u201d Trump said at the White House as he departed for Florida.<\/p>\n

Democrats scoffed at the suggestion that May 1 was not the real deadline.<\/p>\n

Senator Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on social media, \u201cThere\u2019s no pause button in the Constitution, or the War Powers Act. We\u2019re at war. We\u2019ve been at war for 60 days. The blockade alone is a continuing act of war”.<\/p>\n

The development came as little surprise to at least one House Democrat who oversees the military.<\/p>\n

Washington Representative Adam Smith, the ranking Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee, told The Associated Press: “Is the expectation that the Trump administration is going to follow the law? I do not have that expectation”.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The White House asserted to Congress in a letter that hostilities with Iran have \u201cterminated\u201d despite the continued…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643829,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-643828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}