—
HUNT VALLEY, Md. (TNND) — President Donald Trump’s insistence on continuing the war with Iran has strained his relationships in Congress, including those with otherwise supportive Republicans.
The conflict’s inflationary impacts and budgetary blow are leading more of the GOP to speak out against the administration’s approach to Iran, whose chokehold on a critical oil trade route has forced Capitol Hill to consider restricting Trump’s powers.
The Senate succeeded—temporarily—last month in directing the president to withdraw troops from the war, partially through the support of an ideologically diverse group of Republicans. (Lawmakers passed a resolution a day later contradicting the previous measure.) Senators Rand Paul, Susan Collins, Bill Cassidy and Lisa Murkowski crossed the aisle to back the Democratic attempt to check Trump’s power.
Weeks later, with the administration’s position weakening and the midterm elections approaching, the GOP is warming to the idea of shifting away from its leader. Paul, speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday, said his party may feel the consequences of Trump’s war at the ballot box.
“I think the Iran war has not been a success. I’ve been opposed to the Iran war from the beginning,” he remarked. “I think by any objective measure we’re worse off than we were before the war.”
The U.S.-assisted airstrikes that started the conflict in February prompted Iranian retaliation, including by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, through which a fifth of the world’s oil travels during peacetime. Since then, Tehran has successfully leveraged global economic disruptions to extract concessions from Washington.
“The most that can be said for Trump’s war is that it has degraded Iranian military capabilities, but Iranian drones and missiles remain as much of a threat as ever, and Iran has actually increased its ability to blackmail the world since the war began,” analyst Max Boot of the Council on Foreign Relations said earlier this month.
The president’s inability to end the conflict has also irritated vulnerable Republicans grappling with their lack of control over the situation. Collins, who’s in a tough reelection race in the increasingly liberal state of Maine, asserted in the spring that Congress must play a more significant role in the war.
“As I have said since these hostilities with Iran began, the President’s authority as Commander-in-Chief is not without limits,” she said in a statement. “The Constitution gives Congress an essential role in decisions of war and peace.”
The legislature has yet to retake its power over armed conflict. Until it does, tensions on Capitol Hill may continue to rise as Trump’s gunboat diplomacy wears on Washington.
Do you have questions, concerns or tips? Send them to Ray at [email protected].
