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Sep 24, 2026

Six Weeks Before the Midterms, the Senate Rejects the House-Passed Resolution to End the Iran War 49-50 — Thom Tillis Joins Paul, Collins and Murkowski, Saying "We've Got to Break the Cycle," While Tim Kaine Says Republicans Have Been "Carrying Water for This Ridiculous and Illegal War"

On Thursday, September 24, 2026, the Senate voted 49-50 against H.Con.Res. 89, the House-passed concurrent resolution directing President Trump to remove U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorizes the war. It was the 14th time the Senate has taken up an Iran war powers measure since the war began on February 28. Because it is a concurrent resolution, the measure would not have gone to the president and would not have had the force of law. The vote was mostly symbolic, but it was one of the Senate's last votes before the November elections. Four Republicans voted yes: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Thom Tillis of North Carolina. Tillis is retiring, and he said he doesn't usually back "show votes" but wanted to signal that it is time to engage Congress. Democrat John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted no, and Democrat Angela Alsobrooks missed the vote. Together those two votes decided the outcome. The vote came two days after Trump's U.N. speech asking whether to make a deal with Iran "or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic." Diesel prices are above $6 a gallon, and several Republicans who voted no have said publicly that the war needs to end. The White House said Congress cannot force the president to end the campaign this way and that Trump has sufficient authority under Article II. Pentagon figures put the toll at 19 U.S. service members killed and more than 820 wounded, and the cost at about $43.5 billion.

“I think there are a lot of Republican members, yes, obviously. Everybody wants to see wars come to a conclusion. We are hopeful that the administration's efforts will lead to getting … the shipping lanes open and taking some of the pressure off of the American peoples' pocketbooks via a lower price at the pump for gasoline. … It's an economic frustration. That's why again I hope that the administration is laser-focused on trying to get the strait open. [Thune called the Democratic-forced vote "political."]”
John Thune (R-SD) · Sep 24, 2026

Sep 19, 2026· Updated

In Forty-Eight Hours the Commerce Secretary Says "There Haven't Been American Deaths" in Iran, the Vice President Says "I Wouldn't Call It a War," and an Airman's Widow Is Told Her Combat Benefits Depend on Congress Declaring One

On September 2, 2026, in a CNBC interview from the G20 finance meeting, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said of the six-month-old Iran campaign that "there haven't been American deaths, it's really just an economic choke out." The Defense Department's own casualty database records 18 U.S. service members killed and more than 400 wounded in action since the war began on February 28. Lutnick apologized the next morning on X, saying he had been thinking of the January operation that captured Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela. President Trump offered the same explanation on Truth Social. Hours later, at a White House briefing on September 3, Vice President JD Vance was asked whether the conflict would be over before the midterms and answered, "I wouldn't call it a war. Right now, there is no active shooting" — in a briefing where he had described Iran shooting at commercial shipping repeatedly, before and after. The semantics are not academic. Libby Klinner, whose husband Air Force Maj. John "Alex" Klinner was killed March 12 in a KC-135 crash during refueling operations, wrote that a casualty assistance officer told her combat-related entitlements — Hostile Fire Pay, Imminent Danger Pay, the Combat Zone Tax Exclusion — were unavailable because Congress had not declared war. The Air Force opened a review and later said classification confusion, not denial, was the cause; a Defense Department review found the family was receiving all eligible benefits. Vance told reporters the administration would "work that on the back end." Rep. Yassamin Ansari (D-AZ) called Vance's framing "profoundly disrespectful" to the families of the 18 dead. Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) had already introduced legislation in August to stop the Pentagon from resetting the war's casualty count by moving deaths after July 7 onto a separate page labeled "Overseas Operations."

“22 of our service members have been killed in Trump's illegal war. Not 18 like we were told. The Pentagon hid four more heroes' deaths from us for months. Congress cannot let them get away with this.”
Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) · Sep 19, 2026

Sep 16, 2026· Updated

Two Days Before the Iran War Turns Six Months Old, Trump Posts "MISSION ACCOMPLISHED 2026" — and the Top Democrat on Armed Services Answers That "Not a Single Objective Has Been Achieved"

On Aug. 26, 2026, President Trump posted an image to Truth Social captioned "Mission Accomplished 2026," pairing a photograph of George W. Bush labeled "Mission Not Accomplished 2001-2021" with an image of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — a deliberate invocation of the 2003 banner that became a byword for premature victory declarations. Two days later, on Aug. 28, the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran reached its six-month mark. The conflict Trump had described at the outset as a short excursion has cost at least 18 American service members' lives, injured more than 750, and consumed roughly $100 billion in appropriated funds. Iran's nuclear program has not been dismantled, the regime has not fallen — Khamenei's son Mojtaba succeeded him — and the Strait of Hormuz remains a contested flashpoint under U.S. blockade. Trump said this week he is "not in a hurry" to resume negotiations. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on Armed Services, issued a point-by-point accounting of the six war aims Trump named in February and said none had been met. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer called the president delusional for claiming victory. DNC Chair Ken Martin tied the war directly to the November midterms. Trump, for his part, spent the anniversary insisting the blockade is total and that Iran is the party that wants to meet.

“Well, hopefully we are toward the end of the war. They want to make a deal. We'll see how that works out.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Sep 16, 2026

Trump Military Strikes on Alleged Drug Boats in Caribbean and Pacific

Beginning September 2, 2025, the Trump administration launched a sustained military campaign of lethal strikes against vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific that the administration described as drug-trafficking boats operated by designated narco-terrorist organizations, principally Venezuela's Tren de Aragua. The first strike — announced personally by President Trump — killed 11 people on a vessel that had departed Venezuela. By late March 2026, the U.S. military had conducted more than 47 strikes on at least 48 vessels, killing at least 163 people, under what the Pentagon branded "Operation Southern Spear." The campaign has triggered an escalating war powers and legality fight in Congress. The Washington Post revealed in November 2025 that on the very first strike Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had given a "kill them all" order, and that a follow-on "double tap" strike killed two survivors clinging to the burning wreckage. Both House and Senate Armed Services committees opened bipartisan probes. Sens. Tim Kaine, Adam Schiff, Rand Paul and Chuck Schumer forced repeat war powers votes, all defeated by the Republican Senate majority — most recently on January 8, 2026 (52-47 to advance, then defeated on final passage). Critics across both parties argue the strikes are extrajudicial killings without congressional authorization and may constitute war crimes; defenders, led by Secretary Rubio and Sen. Lindsey Graham, characterize the boats' operators as terrorists in an "armed conflict" with the United States.

“If you don't confront these groups, they will eat these countries alive. It's like a cancer that continues to grow until you don't literally have a state anymore.”
Marco Rubio (R-FL) · Sep 9, 2026

The Iran War Restarts After a Month-Long Lull: U.S. Forces Hit Larak Island, Iran Fires Missiles at Two American Air Bases in Jordan and a Drone at the UAE, and Trump Posts an AI Video of Iran's Main Oil Terminal "Being Blown to Smithereens"

On Sunday, August 30, 2026, U.S. forces struck two Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz — the first American strike on Iran in more than a month. U.S. Central Command said Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps units had been observed preparing to fire rockets carrying sea mines into the strait, and described the operation as limited and precise action against an imminent threat. The IRGC called it an act of aggression and vowed a response. The response came overnight. The IRGC launched an operation it named "Punishment of the Aggressor," firing ballistic missiles at the King Hussein and Al Azraq air bases in Jordan, both of which host American forces, and a drone at Al Minhad Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. Iran claimed heavy damage to infrastructure, maintenance facilities and fighter jet positions, and said it had also downed a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper over the Strait of Hormuz. Jordan's military said it intercepted eight ballistic missiles before they threatened any infrastructure or troops; the UAE Ministry of Defense said it intercepted the drone with no damage or casualties. A U.S. official told CNN there were no reported impacts. President Trump told Fox News the United States would answer: "We're going to hit them hard. There will be a response." He then posted an AI-generated video to Truth Social captioned "Kharg Island being blown to smithereens!!!" — Kharg being Iran's main oil-export terminal, and a target the administration has repeatedly threatened but, as of the posting, had not struck. Analysts who checked the clip confirmed it was synthetic; hours later there was no evidence Kharg had been attacked. Trump also posted that "Iran is officially a Failed Nation. IT IS DEAD!" Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who has been running the "economic D-Day" sanctions campaign against Tehran, read the exchange as evidence the pressure is working: "I would think that they are lashing out kinetically because they are losing economically." Congress was largely out of position to respond. The House returned from its August recess on August 31; the Senate was in pro forma session and does not return until September 14. As of the evening of August 31, no member of Congress had issued an on-record statement specifically about the Larak strike or the Jordan and UAE retaliation.

“This has been going on for some time. I think there's been some ground operations as well, where Yemeni forces are taking on the Houthis and pushing back against some of the ground advances that they attempted to make. And we're monitoring that, as I said, very, very closely. But I would defer, as far as the defence side, the Department of War, I don't think there'll be any announcements on that today.”
Marco Rubio (R-FL) · Sep 8, 2026

Eight Months After U.S. Troops Seized Maduro, Trump Announces "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY" — a 100-Year Lease on 65 Billion Barrels of Venezuelan Crude

On Friday, Aug. 28, 2026, President Trump announced on Truth Social that the United States had "secured majority US control of more than 65 BILLION BARRELS of proven Oil Reserves in Venezuela, at no cost to the American Taxpayer" — calling it "THE BIGGEST OIL DEAL IN WORLD HISTORY." As described by the administration, the arrangement covers 17 oil fields across Venezuela's main petroleum basins. A newly formed private company — the U.S. government partnering with a private operator the White House has not named — receives 100-year development rights. The United States takes what officials describe as 55 percent effective output, comprising an ownership stake plus the right to buy oil at cost, with the crude earmarked for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and military use. The administration projects roughly $100 billion in private investment into Venezuela's oil industry and more than $209 billion in tax revenue for Caracas. Trump said the deal "more than doubles American oil reserves" and "will substantially lower gas prices for all Americans." Trump said the agreement was negotiated by Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth with Venezuela's interim president Delcy Rodríguez, who called it a "historic milestone in bilateral relations." Rubio called it "a huge win for both the American and Venezuelan people." The announcement lands roughly eight months after the January 2026 U.S. military operation that captured Nicolás Maduro and flew him to the United States to face narcoterrorism charges — an operation Congress never authorized, and one Democrats had argued from the start was about oil. Their reaction on Friday was to say the deal proved the point. Sen. Chris Van Hollen wrote that "this isn't a win," calling it "proof Trump put our service members at risk to get Venezuelan oil for his billionaire buddies." Sen. Tim Kaine, of the Foreign Relations Committee, said "Using our troops for a private oil grab is corruption at epic scale!" Republicans framed it as vindication: Sen. Bernie Moreno said that "if it were up to DC Democrats, Maduro would still be in power." Neither Trump nor Rubio disclosed specifics of the arrangement — the identity of the private operator, the production timeline, or who bears the cost of rebuilding Venezuela's degraded oil infrastructure. Major U.S. producers have kept their distance: ExxonMobil's CEO said earlier in 2026 that Venezuela was "uninvestable" in its current state, and ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips both remain wary years after their assets there were expropriated.

“The United States did no cost, zero cost to American taxpayers, but we’re going to get massive amounts of discounted oil price and ownership interest.”
Chris Wright (R-CO) · Sep 6, 2026

U.S. Pauses Iran Bombing Campaign as Military Leaders Warn Trump About Dwindling Munitions Stockpiles

The United States paused its bombing campaign against Iran on the night of Friday, July 24, 2026, after nearly two weeks of consecutive nightly strikes, with operations placed "on a hold" according to a Defense Department source. On July 25 the military announced no new strikes for the first time in two weeks. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine had raised concerns in a White House meeting about the state of U.S. munitions stockpiles, telling Trump the military could execute the available options but warning of the implications. President Trump publicly dismissed the concerns, acknowledging the U.S. would like more of "the more sophisticated stuff" while insisting the military has what it needs and blaming the Biden administration for transfers to Ukraine. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Mike Waltz conceded "a lot of stockpiles are depleted." The pause landed in the middle of a budget fight: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Caine asked senators to approve an $87.6 billion supplemental, including roughly $40 billion to expand production of solid rocket motors, precision-guided bombs, hypersonic weapons and counter-drone systems, while House Republicans advanced a separate $95 billion reconciliation framework. Senate Armed Services Chairman Roger Wicker (R-MS) said the services' munitions stockpiles are "under extreme strain," and Democrats including Sens. Jack Reed (D-RI) and Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) argued the depletion showed the war lacked a coherent strategy.

“Munitions have been depleted. The stockpiles are very low, contrary to what Donald Trump wants us to believe.”
Jason Crow (D-CO) · Sep 6, 2026

A U.S. Bomb Misses a Communications Tower by 440 Feet and Lands on a Fisherman's Daughter's Wedding in Kuhestak — Asked About the Four Dead, the Vice President Says He Is "Extremely Skeptical" and That "Sometimes, Things Happen"

On the night of Tuesday, September 1, 2026, dozens of people gathered at a home in Kuhestak, a fishing town on the Iranian coast of the Strait of Hormuz, for the wedding of a fisherman's daughter. A munition struck the building. Iranian authorities named four dead — four-year-old Amir Ali Karimi, 16-year-old Mohammad Malahi, 43-year-old Kolsoum Malahi and 43-year-old Zarkhatoun Taheri — and the Iranian Red Crescent put the wounded at 67; a 22-year-old woman later died in hospital, bringing the reported toll to five. Reuters and The New York Times independently verified footage showing a wedding was underway when the building was hit. The strike was part of a wave of U.S. attacks on southern Iran that ended a month-long lull in the war. Six bombs targeted a communications tower in Kuhestak; one went astray by roughly 440 feet and hit the house. Weapons experts identified the ordnance as a Joint Standoff Weapon glide bomb, and three independent analysts concluded the munition was American rather than an errant Iranian air-defense missile. CENTCOM commander Adm. Brad Cooper ordered an internal review. CENTCOM spokesman Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins said the command was aware of reports "which originated from Iranian state media" and that "the U.S. military never targets civilians, unlike the IRGC." Asked about it at a White House briefing on Thursday, September 3, Vice President JD Vance said he was extremely skeptical of the Iranian account, said the United States never targets civilians, said the administration was investigating because "we care" — and, of the deaths, that "sometimes, things happen." The phrase drew immediate backlash. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), a lead sponsor of the Iran war powers effort, called it "unbelievable gaslighting" in a video posted to X. It is the second mass-casualty incident of the war to put U.S. targeting under scrutiny. After the February 28 strike on a school in Minab that killed more than 165 people, 41 Senate Democrats led by Van Hollen, Kaine, Schatz and Warren pressed the Pentagon for the intended target, the authorizing officer, the munitions used and the precautions taken — and senators later moved to block Hegseth's travel funds until the report was delivered. Democratic members have asked for the Kuhestak findings; as of September 6 the review had not been sent to Congress. Iran's foreign ministry called the strike a "war crime" and wrote to the U.N.; human rights groups have called for an ICC investigation.

“It's unbelievable gaslighting. This is war. As if Americans can't see what's going on on their own phones, with their own eyes.”
Ro Khanna (D-CA) · Sep 4, 2026

Aug 18, 2026· Updated

On the Day the Iran Peace Memorandum Expires, Trump Threatens to "Bomb the Shit Out Of" Oman — the Ally Mediating the Strait of Hormuz Talks — and Kaine Says He Will File a War Powers Resolution

The 60-day negotiating window created by the Islamabad memorandum of understanding that Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed on June 17, 2026 ran out on August 16-17, 2026 without a final agreement. Asked on August 17 by Fox News chief foreign correspondent Trey Yingst about talks between Oman and Iran on a plan to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump said: "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the shit out of them." Oman is a US free-trade partner and has spent the war acting as an intermediary between Washington and Tehran. Trump said later the same day that Oman had not "behaved very well" but that the US would "handle them very easily," said Washington would not seek an extension of the memorandum, told Iran to "put up the white flag of surrender," and repeated that the US now controls the Strait of Hormuz "with the blockade." Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) announced within hours that he will introduce a war powers resolution barring military action against Oman when the Senate returns from its August recess in September. Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) responded that Democrats "may just need to file war powers resolutions for the 192 other countries," and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) asked publicly when Republicans would "concede the man has lost his mind." No congressional Republican publicly criticized the Oman threat on the day it was made. Jared Kushner, who met Hamas leaders in Egypt the day before as part of the administration's regional diplomacy, said Iran was "not showing any interest in doing something that makes sense for us."

“The Naval Blockade remains in full force and effect. The Hormuz Strait is open and operating. All water mines have been removed or detonated.”
Donald Trump (R-FL) · Aug 18, 2026

After Killing Hundreds in Boat Strikes, the US Military Expands Its Anti-Cartel Campaign Onto Land in Latin America as Hegseth Announces Joint Operations With Colombia, Honduras and Guatemala

In the year since the US military began bombing boats it accused of carrying drugs off Latin America's Caribbean and Pacific coasts, it has killed more than 200 people in over 60 strikes, offering little public evidence that those killed were the "narco-terrorists" the administration says they were. On August 17, 2026, the Associated Press reported that the Trump administration is now extending that lethal campaign from the sea to land, pursuing arrangements that would put US forces on the ground in allied nations across the region. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the expansion during a trip to Panama. At the Americas Counter Cartel Coalition meeting in Panama City on August 12, 2026, he said Colombia's newly inaugurated president, Abelardo de la Espriella, had requested that the US join Colombia's fight against narco-terrorism and had authorized joint military operations; Colombia became the 19th member of the administration's "Shield of the Americas" initiative. Hegseth said Honduras and Guatemala had agreed to joint operations as well, following Ecuador, which launched joint missions with US forces in March 2026. Guatemalan President Bernardo Arévalo publicly denied reaching any such agreement, saying it would be illegal without his congress's approval. The following day, August 13, at a jungle warfare drill in Panama, Hegseth described what the land phase would look like: the same effect as the boat strikes, applied ashore, with traffickers treated as targets on par with ISIS or al-Qaida. The administration has designated 20 Latin American criminal groups as foreign terrorist organizations, and the campaign has already included the January 2026 US operation that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. Congress has never authorized force in the campaign. Sen. Tim Kaine, who has repeatedly forced war powers votes, wrote to President Trump on August 3, 2026 that more than 65 kinetic operations had killed more than 220 people and urged him to halt what Kaine called an illegal operation. In May 2026, Reps. Greg Casar, Jesús "Chuy" García and Sara Jacobs led 17 colleagues in demanding the Pentagon suspend the joint US-Ecuador operations after reporting that a bombed site was a civilian dairy farm. Republicans including Rep. Maria Salazar have defended the joint operations as legally grounded in existing bilateral security agreements. Analysts warn the ground campaign risks civilian casualties and a sovereignty backlash in partner countries that could outlast the administration.

“This is a critically important opportunity to build solidarity in the fight against interventionism and democratic backsliding, and to learn how the United States can be a partner in those efforts.”
Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) · Aug 17, 2026

House Passes Second Iran War Powers Resolution 214-208 as Senate Rejects Its Own 47-49

On Thursday, July 23, 2026, the House voted 214-208 to limit President Trump's authority to expand the war with Iran — the second war powers rebuke the chamber has passed since the war began, and the first since the ceasefire collapsed and the US resumed strikes in early July. The resolution, led by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), drew four Republican crossover votes: Reps. Tom Barrett (R-MI), Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA), Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Warren Davidson (R-OH). The vote came five days after an Iranian ballistic missile and drone attack killed three US service members. Later the same day the Senate rejected a parallel measure 47-49, denying opponents of the war the bicameral rebuke they had secured weeks earlier. The House resolution is not legally binding.

“We have all the authorities necessary at this moment.”
Pete Hegseth (R-MN) · Jul 23, 2026

Jun 23, 2026· Updated

Trump and Pezeshkian Sign US–Iran Ceasefire Memorandum; Hormuz Standoff and Invasion Threat Follow

On June 17, 2026, President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian remotely signed a 14-point memorandum of understanding extending the 2026 Iran war ceasefire for 60 days, reopening the Strait of Hormuz toll-free, and lifting the US naval blockade while negotiators pursued a final nuclear deal. The framework drew sharp bipartisan criticism in Washington, with Republican hawks calling the terms a capitulation and Democrats saying Iran had "won" the negotiation. The truce frayed on June 20 when Iran's IRGC Navy declared it had again closed the Strait of Hormuz, citing continued Israeli strikes in Lebanon, though US Central Command said traffic continued to flow. On June 21 Trump warned in a Fox News phone interview that if Iran closed the strait "you won't have a country," and separately threatened to impose US tolls on the waterway if a final deal was not reached within 60 days. On June 23 the Senate advanced a war powers resolution rebuking Trump's handling of the conflict.

“If this passes, the Iranians are going to simply stand up and walk away from negotiations.”
Jim Risch (R-ID) · Jun 23, 2026

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