As President Donald Trump draws the United States perilously close to war with Iran, some members of Congress are working across the aisle in an attempt to reign him in. 

On Tuesday, Representatives Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif., introduced a War Powers Resolution, which would prohibit the “United States Armed Forces from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

Senator Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced similar legislation in the Senate on Monday. 

“U.S. involvement in Israel’s war with Iran is a red line. We need Congress to speak out about that and pass a resolution prohibiting that,” Rep. Khanna told The Intercept. “And we need the United States to try to bring this war between Israel and Iran to an end.”

The War Powers Resolution, enacted in 1973, requires an act of Congress to declare a war. Over the decades, however, presidents have repeatedly ignored the federal law to deploy U.S. troops overseas without Congressional approval, ensnaring the U.S. in numerous foreign wars. Massie noted in his press release that War Powers Resolutions are privileged in the House and “can be called up for debate and a floor vote after 15 calendar days without action in committee.” 

The resolution comes against a backdrop of escalating missile strikes between Israel and Iran over the last five days, beginning with Israel’s attack on Iranian nuclear and military facilities ahead of scheduled negotiations between the U.S. and Iranian leadership. 

As attacks have continued, so too have concerns about direct U.S. involvement in the conflict. On Tuesday, Trump ratcheted up those fears with a string of Truth Social posts taunting the Iranian regime and calling for its surrender. 

“We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran,” he wrote. “Iran had good sky trackers and other defensive equipment, and plenty of it, but it doesn’t compare to American made, conceived, and manufactured ‘stuff.’ Nobody does it better than the good ol’ USA.”

In another post, he claimed to have the location of Iran’s Supreme leader. “We know exactly where the so-called ‘Supreme Leader’ is hiding. He is an easy target, but is safe there – We are not going to take him out (kill!), at least not for now,” Trump wrote. And in a third post, he called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” News reports emerged Tuesday afternoon that in a meeting in the White House situation room, Trump told officials he was considering joining Israel’s strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. 

Even before Tuesday, lawmakers expressed concerns about the lack of clarity from the president and senior military leadership. Last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to offer assurances to Rep. Khanna that the U.S. would stand up to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and not get dragged into the oncoming conflict. And on Monday, while leaving the Group of Seven summit in Alberta, Canada, Trump refused to answer a reporter’s questions about whether the U.S. military would get involved in the war. 

“I don’t want to talk about that,” he told reporters.

“Even a cursory reading of the past 30 years of history in this country tells us that everything that is happening right now in this drive towards war is making all of us less safe.”

Congresswoman Summer Lee D-Pa., told The Intercept that it is Congress’s duty to intervene and prevent Trump from usurping their authority.  

“Since taking office, Trump has continuously tried to supersede Congress and is now using the escalating crisis between Israel and Iran to justify executive overreach. Congressional authorization is not optional, and many are already opposed to being dragged into another endless war,” wrote Rep. Lee in a statement. 

DEIR AL-BALAH, GAZA - NOVEMBER 7: Civil defense teams and citizens continue search and rescue operations after an airstrike hits the building belonging to the Maslah family during the 32nd day of Israeli attacks in Deir Al-Balah, Gaza on November 7, 2023. (Photo by Ashraf Amra/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Read our complete coverage

The Pennsylvania representative also alluded to the United States’ disastrous invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan as a reason for caution. “The American people have been lied to before, and millions — at home and abroad — have paid the price. We cannot allow Trump or anybody else to use somebody else’s war for political gain or financial profit,” said Lee. 

Members of Congress have previously tried to rein in the President’s military efforts in the Middle East. Earlier this year, progressives sent a letter to the White House demanding that Trump explain his legal basis for strikes against Yemen. 

However, on Tuesday, Democratic Senator John Fetterman, also of Pennsylvania, struck a very different chord from Lee — encouraging military action against Iran and saying he would vote against Kaine’s resolution. 

“I’m going to vote it down
 I really hope the president finally does bomb and destroy the Iranians,” Fetterman told Chad Pergram with Fox News. It marks a reversal for the Senator, who in 2022 criticized President Trump for walking away from the negotiating table with Iran.

Samer Araabi, a member of the Center for Political Education’s advisory committee and the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), said the comments from Fetterman aren’t surprising. 

“It’s the least surprising thing from a Senator who has been so abhorrently blood chillingly deaf and blind to the situation in Palestine and totally unwilling on any level to recognize the countless war crimes that Israel continues to commit,” he said, adding, “it would be laughable if it wasn’t so horrifying.”

Araabi warned that direct U.S. involvement in the war would be even worse than the invasion of Iraq, due in part to Iran’s larger population and size. 

“We’re on the precipice of not even just another Iraq, but something that would potentially be significantly more destabilizing,” he said.

U.S. military intervention on the side of Israel, Araabi said, would heighten the risk for all parties involved. “Even a cursory reading of the past 30 years of history in this country tells us that everything that is happening right now in this drive towards war is making all of us less safe,” he said. “It makes literally every single human being on Earth less safe. It certainly makes the Iranians less safe. It makes Israelis less safe, and it definitely makes us in the United States less safe.” 

Clare Bayard, a member of the Center for Political Education’s Anti-War Working Group, echoed Araabi’s fears about another Iraq War if the U.S. intervenes in Iran. 

“We have to challenge this country’s tendency towards amnesia and remember the lessons of Bush’s war on Iraq,” Bayard wrote in a statement. “The U.S.’s invasion and installation of a puppet regime, based on excuses that sound a lot like Israel’s rationale for bombing Iran, resulted not only in mass death and displacement but in enduring new levels of violence for millions of people.”

Nick Turse contributed reporting.