US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has asserted that the deadline for the Trump administration to seek congressional approval for military action involving the US, Israel, and Iran has been put on hold. Hegseth’s remarks came during a Senate hearing on Thursday. Friday marks the 60th day since President Trump officially informed Congress of the strikes against Iran on March 2nd. According to US law, a president must “terminate any use of United States Armed Forces” within 60 days of such notification, unless Congress grants an extension.<\/p>\n
A senior administration official indicated that hostilities with Iran had “terminated,” highlighting that a ceasefire has been in place since early April. Despite the ceasefire, a long-term agreement through negotiations has not yet been reached between the parties. Concurrently, the vital Strait of Hormuz remains largely inaccessible, leading to global economic repercussions.<\/p>\n
“We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,”<\/b> Hegseth stated when questioned by senators on Thursday. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine, who posed the question, countered, “I do not believe the statute would support that. I think the 60 days runs maybe tomorrow, and it’s going to pose a really important legal question for the administration there.”<\/p>\nUnderstanding the War Powers Resolution<\/h3>\n
The War Powers Resolution, a US law enacted decades ago, stipulates that a president must terminate the use of US armed forces in combat within “sixty calendar days” unless Congress formally declares war or grants an extension of up to 30 days for the “prompt removal” of troops. This legislation was originally passed in 1973 to restrict then-President Richard Nixon’s authority to continue military involvement in Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Another senior Trump administration official affirmed, “For War Powers Resolution purposes, the hostilities that began on Saturday, February 28 have terminated.” This official also noted the extension of an initial two-week ceasefire and confirmed no exchange of fire between the US and Iran since April 7th.<\/p>\n
CBS News, the BBC’s US partner, reported ongoing discussions between administration officials and members of Congress regarding authorization for military actions. Democratic-led initiatives in both houses of Congress aimed at limiting presidential authority concerning Iran have consistently failed. Democrats have pledged to persist, viewing these attempts as a means to document lawmakers’ stances. While most Republicans have opposed these Democratic efforts, some have indicated a potential reevaluation of their positions after the 60-day period.<\/p>\n
Conflict across the Middle East was reportedly sparked after the US and Israel launched wide-ranging strikes on Iran, leading to the death of the country’s supreme leader. Iran responded by launching attacks on Israel and US-allied states in the Gulf region. The US and Israel have spearheaded Western opposition to Iran’s nuclear program, asserting that the country is attempting to develop a nuclear weapon \u2013 a claim Tehran has consistently denied.<\/p>\n
US media outlets have presented varying reports on the options currently under consideration by President Trump. Hegseth also engaged in debate with Democratic lawmakers in the House during a separate hearing on Wednesday. During this session, a senior official from the defense secretary’s office disclosed that operations in Iran have cost the US approximately $25 billion (\u00a318.5 billion) to date. Concurrently, many Republican members of the House committee voiced support for the Pentagon. Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida stated his belief that Iran poses an existential threat to the US, remarking, “When someone tells me for 47 years that they want to kill us, I think I am going to take them at their word. I support our efforts to make sure that Iran never has a nuclear weapon.”<\/p>\n
#IranWarPowers #USCongress #IranConflict #PeteHegseth #WarPowersResolution #TrumpAdministration #StraitOfHormuz #MiddleEastTensions #USIranRelations #Ceasefire<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Defence Secretary Hegseth States Iran War Approval Deadline Paused US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth has asserted that the deadline for the Trump administration to seek congressional approval for military action involving the US, Israel, and Iran has been put on hold. Hegseth’s remarks came during a Senate hearing on Thursday. Friday marks the 60th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5901,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-iran_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vanak.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}