June 23, 2025

Permission to republish original opeds and cartoons granted.

 

 

Whether Congress Declares War Or Not, We’re In One Now After Trump Orders U.S. To Strike Iran

By Robert Romano

On June 21, President Donald Trump ordered targeted air strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities with an aim to eliminating its nuclear enrichment capabilities, then thought to be days or weeks away from achieving nuclear weapons in violation of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, following similar air strikes by Israel that began on June 13 after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found Iran to be in violation of the treaty on June 12 by barring weapons inspectors.

Speaking to the American people from the White House, President Trump outlined the limited objectives and success of the mission, stating, “A short time ago, the U.S. military carried out massive, precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success. Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”

Trump held out the prospect for further diplomacy if Iran wished to avoid further escalation but also threatening further action, stating, “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not. Future attacks would be far greater and a lot easier… There will be either peace, or there will be tragedy for Iran, far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days.”

Trump added, “Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight’s was the most difficult of them all, by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There’s no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight. Not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just a little while ago.”

The attack was immediately followed by denunciations from members of Congress stating that the President could only act in instances where Congress has authorized the use of force under the Constitution’s Article I, Section 8 power for Congress “[t]o declare war…” The question, when it does come up from time to time, usually centers on acts by U.S. forces against a foreign country without provocation or a direct attack.

Since 1789, there have been 11 such declarations of war by Congress involving five separate wars: the War of 1812 versus Great Britain, the 1846 war against Mexico, the 1898 war against Spain, World War I versus Germany and Austria-Hungary in 1917 and World War II against Germany, Japan and Italy in 1941. 

But there have also been about 188 other military actions by the U.S. that were not declared wars since 1789. Of those, more than 125 lacked explicit authorizations by Congress, but were otherwise exercised under the President’s inherent Article II powers as the executive and commander-in-chief of the U.S. armed forces but also under laws Congress had passed, for example in 1795, authorizing the President to repel an invasion or other attack by a foreign country or to suppress a domestic insurrection: “That whenever the United States shall be invaded, or an imminent danger of invasion from any foreign nation or Indian tribe, it shall be lawful for the President of the United States to call forth such number of the militia of the state, or states, most convenient to the place of danger, or scene of action, as he may judge necessary to repel such invasion...”

Therefore, given the laws Congress has enacted, less controversial are those cases where a foreign country has attacked the U.S. wherein Congress has already baked into the cake action by the president to repel the threat.  

The Supreme Court has found ample constitutional and legal authority with which presidents tend to act against real dangers, stating in the 1863 Prize Cases that while the President “has no power to initiate or declare a war either against a foreign nation or a domestic State… If a war be made by invasion of a foreign nation, the President is not only authorized but bound to resist force by force. He does not initiate the war, but is bound to accept the challenge without waiting for any special legislative authority.”

In other words, yes, Congress has the power to declare war. But so do foreign countries or domestic rebels, and under both the Constitution and the laws that Congress has enacted, the President under his own authority has the power to determine that such an emergency exists, and to act on it. 

So, with countries that pose no threat to the U.S. or are otherwise not attacking the U.S., then yes, a president would appear to need to go to Congress. But what about countries that are already at war with the U.S.?

This seems to be where President Trump views it, that the Islamic Republic of Iran has been at war with the U.S. for a number of decades now since its inception, telling the American people, “For 40 years, Iran has been saying. Death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs, with roadside bombs. That was their specialty. We lost over 1,000 people and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East, and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate in particular. So many were killed by their general, Qassim Soleimani. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen. It will not continue.”

When it comes to the war, this could only be the beginning.

An open question for Tehran, depending on the damage dealt to its nuclear capabilities and the dire situation its decimated air defenses poses to their electric grid and oil refineries, to preserve their society and their oil export economy, do they now wish to deal? 

So far, the answer appears to be no, as evidenced by dozens of further missile strikes by Iran against Israel and now against U.S. bases following the U.S. assault. 

But again, even now at this late hour, Trump still sees a pathway to peace and to avert a wider war. The President appears to be hoping to establish a deterrent against further escalation, stating of the U.S. military, “Hopefully, we will no longer need their services in this capacity.” 

This could be signal at least an attempt to renew another round of negotiations and diplomacy, assuming the Iranians are interested in talking after the military strikes, including by Israel, which are ongoing. Much could depend on how effective the U.S. strikes were at degrading Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities, and therefore what there is left to talk about.

For now, the U.S. is in contact with China, calling on President Xi Jinping to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz, something China has a direct interest in, purchasing 5.4 million barrels of oil a day from Iran. 

At the end of the day, whether Congress would declare war or not, we’re in one now — and we’ve been in one for decades. Iran thinks it is at war with us. What Congress and the President do with that information is up to them. Right now, it still looks like we’re on the path of escalation.

Robert Romano is the Executive Director at Americans for Limited Government Foundation. 

To view online: https://dailytorch.com/2025/06/whether-congress-declares-war-or-not-were-in-one-now-after-trump-orders-u-s-to-strike-iran/