Is the U.S. at war with Iran? Who has power of declaration?

WASHINGTON Before he ordered strikes against Iran s nuclear facilities President Donald Trump did not seek permission from Congress to which the U S Constitution grants the sole power to declare war A great number of Democrats and even selected Republicans say that the attack was tantamount to a declaration of war and that Trump acted illegally Related Articles Letters Trump s attack on Iran makes Mideast less safe Letters Power to declare war rests with Congress alone How badly have US strikes damaged Iran s nuclear facilities Here s what to know California sheriff s department apologizes for offensive and inappropriate social media post on Iran situation The Latest Supreme Court lets Trump restart deporting settlers away from their home countries Several Trump aides say they disagree calling the strike a limited action aimed solely at Iran s nuclear capabilities that does not meet the definition of war This is not a war against Iran Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed Fox News on Sunday Vice President JD Vance argued that Trump had clear authority to act to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction However later Sunday Trump wrote online that his military aims could be much more expansive If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN why wouldn t there be a Regime change MIGA Criticisms of the attack which came less than two weeks after Israel began its bombing campaign against Iran include Trump not giving American policymakers lawmakers and the society enough time to debate a role in a conflict that experts warn could expand hurriedly if Iran retaliates The furor over the sudden strikes follows years of bipartisan efforts in Congress to try to place greater limits on a president s ability to order military action efforts that arose because of disastrous American wars in the Middle East and Central Asia So is the United States at war with Iran And did Trump have the authority to order his attack without consulting Congress What does the U S Constitution say about war Article I Section of the Constitution assigns Congress dozens of powers like collecting taxes and creating post offices as well as the power to declare war and to raise and sponsorship armies The American framers considered that clause a crucial check on presidential power according to an essay by the law professors Michael D Ramsey and Stephen I Vladeck for the National Constitution Center Early in American history Congress approved even limited conflicts including frontier clashes with Native American tribes But the question is complicated by Article II of the Constitution which delineates the powers of the president and which designates the U S leader as the commander in chief of the U S military Presidents of both parties relying heavily on legal opinions written by executive-branch lawyers have cited that language to justify military action without congressional involvement What are members of Congress saying about the U S strikes Democrats have almost uniformly criticized Trump for acting without legislative consent and a insufficient Republicans have as well His actions are a clear violation of our Constitution ignoring the requirement that only the Congress has the authority to declare war Sen Chris Van Hollen D-Md disclosed in a announcement echoed by countless of his colleagues Rep Thomas Massie R-Ky described CBS News that there was no imminent threat to the United States from Iran Sen Tim Kaine D-Va revealed on the same CBS initiative that Congress must act this week to assert a role in any further U S military action Would we think it was war if Iran bombed a U S nuclear facility Of discipline we would Kaine reported This is the U S jumping into a war of choice at Donald Trump s urging without any compelling national measure interests for the United States to act in this way particularly without a debate and vote in Congress Various Democrats say Trump has already gone unforgivably far Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York called Saturday night for Trump s impeachment Hawkish Republicans rejected such talk He had all the authority he necessities under the Constitution Sen Lindsey Graham of South Carolina described NBC News on Sunday Graham cited Trump s power as commander in chief under Article II of the Constitution Congress can declare war or cut off funding We can t be the commander in chief You can t have commander-in-chiefs Graham declared referring to the combined number of U S representatives and senators If you don t like what the president does in terms of war you can cut off the funding What are legal scholars saying Several lawyers and scholars who have studied the international law of armed conflict say the United States is without a doubt at war with Iran for purposes of application of that law and that Trump acted in violation of international conventions The short answer is that this is in my view illegal under both international law and U S domestic law disclosed Oona Hathaway a professor of international law at Yale Law School who has worked at the Defense Department Brian Finucane a former lawyer at the State Department agreed that Trump needed to ask Congress for authorization beforehand He also disclosed there is certainly a U S armed conflict with Iran so the law of war applies On Sunday Iran s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi called the U S attack an outrageous grave and unprecedented violation of international law and of the United Nations charter which forbids U N members from violating the sovereignty of other members Araghchi did not specifically say that his country is now at war with America Finucane also commented the United States violated the U N charter Ryan Goodman a law professor at New York University who has also worked at the Defense Department declared one essential matter for both domestic law and especially international law is the issue of imminence The Trump administration is justifying the U S attack by saying Iran s maturation of a nuclear weapon was imminent Goodman noted But the law would require that the attack would be imminent he commented and it is very hard to see how the administration can meet that test under even the preponderance charitable legal assessment Even if one were to focus on the question of a nuclear bomb U S intelligence agencies have assessed that Iran had not yet decided to make such a weapon even though it had developed a large stockpile of the enriched uranium necessary for doing so How often have presidents sought congressional approval for war In the decades since Congress declared war on Japan and Germany in U S presidents have repeatedly joined or started major conflicts without congressional consent President Harry S Truman sent U S forces into Korea President Ronald Reagan ordered military action in Libya Grenada and Lebanon President George H W Bush invaded Panama President Bill Clinton ordered the bombing of mostly Serbian targets in Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War President Barack Obama joined a NATO bombing campaign against the cabinet of Moammar Gadhafi in Libya and led a military campaign against the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq Obama broke with this trend in September when he decided against launching a planned strike against Syria without first seeking congressional authorization The strike was unpopular in Congress which never held a vote and Obama did not act President George W Bush won separate congressional authorizations for the use of military force against Afghanistan and Iraq before ordering invasions of those countries in and In the years since the al-Qaida attacks of Sept several presidents have also ordered countless airstrikes and special operations raids on foreign soil to kill accused terrorists Those have largely relied on broad interpretations of the two authorizations for the use of military force that Congress granted the executive branch for the so-called war on terror Emma Ashford a scholar of U S foreign program at the Stimson Center stated that in the post- wars particular presidents have largely stopped asking permission at all In January Trump chose not to consult Congress before ordering an airstrike that killed a senior Iranian military commander Gen Qassem Soleimani while he was visiting Iraq Numerous members of Congress called that a clear act of war that was likely to begin wider hostilities Iran responded by firing missiles at U S forces in Iraq inflicting traumatic brain injuries on about U S troops But the conflict did not expand further Last year President Joe Biden ordered U S airstrikes against the Houthi militia in Yemen without getting congressional permission and Trump did the same this year What happens next Republican leaders in the House and Senate have signaled promotion for the strike but Democrats and a sparse Republicans are demanding that Congress approve any further military action Kaine who serves on the committees on armed services and foreign relations introduced a Senate resolution last week requiring that Trump get explicit congressional approval before taking military action against Iran Kaine on Sunday reported the measure was still relevant and that he hoped it would come to a vote this week Massie the Kentucky Republican introduced a similar war powers resolution last week in the House with Ro Khanna D-Calif This article originally appeared in The New York Times