{"id":428449,"date":"2026-05-02T09:16:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/428449\/"},"modified":"2026-05-02T09:16:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T09:16:09","slug":"trump-says-iran-ceasefire-means-he-does-not-need-congress-approval-for-war-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/428449\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump says Iran ceasefire means he does not need Congress approval for war \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump<\/a> has told Congress the Iran conflict<\/a> has \u201cterminated\u201d despite an ongoing stand-off in the Middle East that has rocked economies around the world.<\/p>\n

The US president made the claim as a legal deadline passed for him to seek approval by legislators to continue the war, which is now as unpopular among Americans as Vietnam in the 1970s.<\/p>\n

This week, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth told a Senate hearing that the current fragile truce \u201cmeans the 60-day clock pauses, or stops\u201d.<\/p>\n

This was echoed by the president on Friday who pointed out he had ordered a two-week ceasefire on April 7th that has since been extended.<\/p>\n

In a letter to Congress, Mr Trump said: \u201cThere has been no exchange of fire between United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the ceasefire, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the US navy is enforcing a blockade of the country\u2019s ports to prevent oil shipments.<\/p>\n

The effective closure of the vital supply route for oil and gas, has inflicted a global economic shock and sent energy prices soaring.<\/p>\n

The waterway, which was open prior to the US and Israel<\/a> launching strikes against Iran, has become the focus of transatlantic tensions.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump also renewed his criticism of Nato, after it refused to support his offensive against Iran.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Florida retirement village, Mr Trump said: \u201cAnd we got no help from Nato. We got no help, zero from Nato.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, we spent trillions of dollars on Nato. We got no help. We didn\u2019t need it, but we got none.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThey know they got problems. It was a paper tiger.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, a US president can only launch military action for 60 days before requiring congressional agreement to continue.<\/p>\n

The White House can request a 30-day extension to allow forces to withdraw.<\/p>\n

The president formally notified Congress of the conflict 48 hours after the first strikes against Iran two months ago, starting the 60-day countdown that ended on May 1st.<\/p>\n

He has branded the war powers law \u201cunconstitutional\u201d.<\/p>\n

Democrats in Congress have made repeated attempts to force Mr Trump to end the war or secure authorisation, insisting there is nothing in the 1973 law allowing for a ceasefire.<\/p>\n

In his letter to Congress, Mr Trump also made clear the conflict may not be over.<\/p>\n

He said: \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<\/p>\n

As he left the White House to head to Florida, Mr Trump said he was \u201cnot satisfied\u201d with Iran\u2019s latest proposal too end the war.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cThey\u2019re asking for things I can\u2019t agree to. It\u2019s a very disjointed leadership. They all want to make a deal, but they\u2019re all messed up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Referring to a military briefing he had on Iran, Mr Trump said: \u201cI mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever? Or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he preferred the former, he said: \u201cI\u2019d prefer not. On a human basis, I\u2019d prefer not, but that\u2019s the option.\u201d<\/p>\n

Speaking later in Florida, he said: \u201cWe\u2019re in a war, because I think you would agree we cannot let lunatics have a nuclear weapon.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe\u2019re going to get this thing done properly. We\u2019re not going to leave early.\u201d \u2013 PA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Donald Trump has told Congress the Iran conflict has \u201cterminated\u201d despite an ongoing stand-off in the Middle East…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[969,42,11829,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-428449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-donald-trump","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}