House to vote on limiting Trump’s action on Iran

PanARMENIAN.Net - Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Sunday, January 5 that the House will vote on a war powers resolution this week to limit President Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran, warning that his order last week for a lethal strike against a top Iranian commander risked a serious escalation of tensions in the Middle East, The Washington Post reports.

In a letter to Democrats, Pelosi (D-Calif.) said the U.S. action that killed Quds Force commander Maj. Gen. Qasem Soleimani was a “provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials” that endangered members of the U.S. military, diplomats and others.

Pelosi said lawmakers were concerned that the Trump administration acted without consulting Congress and without respect for the constitutional authority Congress has to declare war.

She said the House will introduce and vote on a resolution similar to one that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced in the Senate last week.

“It reasserts Congress’s long-established oversight responsibilities by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days,” Pelosi said.

The letter from the speaker late Sunday came hours after Trump claimed that his tweets are sufficient notice to Congress of any possible U.S. military strike on Iran, in an apparent dismissal of his obligations under the War Powers Act of 1973.