President Donald Trump has notified Congress that he has turned on the war against Iran that he turned off on April 7, thus supposedly restarting the 60-day clock provided for in the 1973 War Powers Act. In a letter to Congress dated July 10, obtained by Politico, Trump stated that the strikes that began on July 7 represent “military action consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States’ interests both at home and abroad.”
Politico notes that Trump had previously notified lawmakers in May that the war launched in February had “terminated,” thereby allegedly stopping the 60-day legal deadline under which military operations must halt without congressional authorization. The White House had argued that the move stopped the war-powers clock, because major combat operations had been suspended, despite the fact that the U.S. had imposed a naval blockade on Iran, which is legally an act of war. Opponents of Trump’s war find that logic unconvincing.
