WASHINGTON — In a political blow to President Donald Trump, the Senate moved forward for the first time Tuesday with a measure to end the war in Iran.
After several key Republican senators didn't vote — and another key GOP bloc defected — the war powers resolution advanced 50-47.
Though the vote was largely procedural, and faces an uphill battle to actually becoming law, the resolution's progress was a bad omen for the White House about potentially waning support in Congress for the war.
Rising gas prices, spiking inflation and the president's sinking polling numbers have become political liabilities for battleground GOP lawmakers as the November midterm elections approach.
Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy — who lost his primary reelection just days ago in large part because Trump crusaded against him — voted to advance the war powers resolution. Before his reelection loss, Cassidy opposed the measure several times.
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Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine, who led Democrats' legislative campaign to end the Iran war, said ahead of the vote that the Trump administration is "well past the 60-day deadline" for a president to legally engage in military hostilities abroad without congressional authorization.
"The administration is unwilling to show us the legal rationale for the war," he said on the Senate floor ahead of the vote. "That should be a flashing red light."
Path forward
Meanwhile, Trump said earlier Tuesday the United States might need to attack Iran again, and he was only an hour away from deciding on a strike before he postponed the attack.
Trump spoke to reporters at the White House a day after saying he paused a planned resumption of attacks following a new peace proposal by Tehran.
"I was an hour away from making the decision to go today," Trump said on Tuesday.
Iran's leaders are begging for a deal, he claimed, adding that a new U.S. attack would happen in coming days if no agreement was reached.
"Well, I mean, I'm saying two or three days, maybe Friday, Saturday, Sunday, something, maybe early next week, a limited period of time, because we can't let them have a new nuclear weapon."
Speaking to reporters at a White House briefing, Vice President JD Vance said Washington and Tehran made a lot of progress in their talks and neither side wanted to see a resumption of the military campaign.
In Tehran, Ebrahim Azizi, head of the Iranian parliament's national security committee, said on social media that pausing an attack was due to Trump's realization that any move against Iran would mean "facing a decisive military response."
Iranian state media said Tehran's latest peace proposal involves ending hostilities on all fronts including Lebanon, the exit of U.S. forces from areas close to Iran, and reparations for destruction caused by the U.S.-Israeli attacks.
Tehran also sought the lifting of sanctions, release of frozen funds and end to the U.S. marine blockade, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi as cited by IRNA news agency.
The terms as described in the Iranian reports appeared little changed from Iran's previous offer, which Trump rejected last week as "garbage."
'Changing goalposts'
Reuters could not determine whether military preparations were made for strikes that would mark a renewal of the war Trump started in late February.
He is under pressure to reach an accord that would reopen the Strait of Hormuz — a key supply route for global supplies of oil and other commodities. Trump previously expressed hope that a deal was close on ending the conflict, and similarly threatened heavy strikes on Iran if it did not reach an accord.
Trump said Monday that Washington would be satisfied if it could reach an agreement that prevented Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
"There seems to be a very good chance that they can work something out. If we can do that without bombing the hell out of them, I would be very happy," Trump told reporters.
A Pakistani source confirmed that Islamabad, which has conveyed messages between the sides since hosting the only round of peace talks last month, shared the Iranian proposal with Washington.
The sides "keep changing their goalposts," the Pakistani source said, adding: "We don't have much time."
The U.S.-Israeli bombing killed thousands of people in Iran before it was suspended in a ceasefire in early April.
In a sign of continued concern over security in the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and UN Secretary-General António Guterres discussed American efforts to prevent Iran from placing mines and imposing tolls in the waterway, including the possibility of a U.N. Security Council resolution on the issue.
Israel killed thousands more and drove hundreds of thousands from their homes in Lebanon, which it said it invaded in pursuit of the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia.
Iranian strikes on Israel and neighboring Gulf states killed dozens of people.
The Iran ceasefire has mostly held, though drones have lately been launched from Iraq towards Gulf countries, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, apparently by Iran and its allies.
Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said they launched the war to limit Iran's support for regional militias, dismantle its nuclear program, destroy its missile capabilities, and create conditions for Iranians to topple their rulers.
But the war has yet to deprive Iran of its stockpile of near-weapons-grade enriched uranium or its ability to threaten neighbors with missiles, drones and proxy militias.
