WASHINGTON: The US Senate blocked an Iran war powers resolution late Wednesday night, hours after President Donald Trump’s lunch with Republican senators erupted into a shouting match over the conflict.
After abruptly calling the late-night vote, Senate Republicans blocked the measure after two members of the party who had supported previous resolutions calling for an end to hostilities without lawmakers’ approval changed their votes.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who had an angry exchange with Trump at lunch over his failure to disclose information about the war, voted no, after thanking Trump’s administration for a briefing at the White House about the war. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky voted “present.” Overall, the tally was 50 to 47 to block a war powers resolution that had advanced on a procedural vote in May. The resolution directed Trump to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran until the deployment is authorized by Congress.
Two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with every Democrat except one in favor of the resolution. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democratic no vote.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Michael Bennet of Colorado did not vote.
“This vote puts Iran on notice,” Trump said on social media after Wednesday’s late-night vote.
Shouting match
Several Republicans who attended the lunch on Wednesday said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Cassidy, who said the administration needed to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that gives Iran financial incentives but falls short of the goals he laid out at the war’s beginning.
“The American people need to know more than we are being told,” Cassidy told reporters. “It does not appear, although I don’t know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told.” Members of Congress, including some of Trump’s fellow Republicans, have been calling on his administration to share more information about its goals for the conflict since the US and Israel launched strikes on Iran on February 28.
Wednesday’s high-volume lunchtime exchange with a member of Trump’s own party shows how the war has weighed on Trump ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress. With his approval rating at its lowest since Trump returned to office last year, just one in four Americans believes the war was worth its costs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed. The exchange came a day after the Senate voted to direct Trump to end the war in a separate vote on a resolution passed by the House of Representatives this month. Cassidy was one of four Republicans to back it, along with opposition Democrats.
Wednesday’s late-night vote does not affect that resolution. Several hours later, the administration asked Congress for $70 billion to cover the cost of the war, setting up another potential clash with Congress. That supplemental budget request cannot pass with fewer than 60 votes in the Senate, so it will need Democrats’ support. Trump’s Republicans have just a 53-47 seat majority in the chamber.
Cassidy got briefing
In a Wednesday evening post on X, Cassidy had thanked Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff for “the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran.”
“I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns,” Cassidy said. Benchmark oil prices fell on Wednesday to their lowest since before the war started, as the initial accord between the United States and Iran lifted Iran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing traffic to flow again.
Before it was blockaded in the war, the waterway had carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments. But conflicting accounts have emerged over elements of the deal, which has prompted criticism of Trump at home and abroad.
Financial incentives for Iran, inspections of its nuclear facilities, control of the strait and Israel’s parallel war in Lebanon have all been disputed.
The deal sets up 60 days of talks to tackle thornier details, such as Iran’s nuclear program.
Regional scepticism
The proposed peace deal has provoked scepticism in the Middle East, where many states came under attack from Iran during the war and view the accord as too generous to Tehran, including a $300-billion fund and the waiver of some sanctions.
Washington’s Gulf allies fear the reconstruction fund could help Iran rebuild its military. The accord also does not address Tehran’s ballistic missile capacity.
The deal requires Iran to let shipping flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, and Tehran has suggested it might impose tolls after that.
Iran could propose environmental, navigation and security fees in upcoming talks with Gulf states, said a diplomat briefed on the talks. Washington and its Gulf allies oppose such fees.
“We’re not going to do anything that undermines the security of our allies, our longstanding allies in the region,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in Kuwait City, where the US embassy resumed operations after a stoppage due to the war.
Israel, Lebanon meet in Washington
In Washington, Lebanon and Israel discussed a US-backed proposal for Israel’s forces to pull out of some territory it invaded to be handed back to Lebanese army control.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would not pull troops out.
Israel has been battling Hezbollah in Lebanon since the militant group attacked Israel on March 2 in support of Iran, and Tehran has made a cessation of hostilities there central to its demands in any peace deal with the United States.
An Israeli drone strike on a car in southern Lebanon killed two people on Wednesday, Lebanese sources told Reuters, while Israel said it struck two armed Hezbollah fighters. It was not immediately clear if the incidents were the same.
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