Speaking to the White House journalists, President Donald Trump Koy played when he was asked if he would attend the United States to the United States Israel’s war on Iran.
He said on Wednesday: “I may do it. I may not do it,” he said on Wednesday.
American officials and the president’s allies confirmed that the decision to participate in the war – or not – lies with Trump, stressing that they trust in his instincts.
“It is a single guidance hand about what will happen from this point forward,” Tami Bruce, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told journalists on Tuesday.
But anti -war advocates were arguing that everything should be left to Trump and that Congress was the final decision on war and peace, according to the US constitution.
It also seems that Trump saves the possibility of the United States in the conflict, some legislators seek to reaffirm the role of Congress under The law of war authorities.
But what are the laws that direct the declaration of war, and can Trump involve the United States in the war without the approval of Congress?
Here is what you need to know about the laws that govern war decisions in the United States.
What does the US constitution say?
Article 1 of the American Constitution, which established the government’s legislative branch and explains its duties, says that Congress has the authority to “declare war”.
Some defenders take this ruling that the legislators, not the president, have the authority over US military interventions.
When was the last time the United States officially declared the war?
In 1942, during World War II. Since then, the United States has gone to the war in Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf, Afghanistan And Iraq During strikes and interventions in many countries – Serbia, Libya, Somalia and Yemen, to name a few.
What is the authority that the president enjoys when it comes to war?
According to the second article of the constitution, the President was appointed “Supreme Commander” of the Armed Forces.
Presidents have the ability to command the army to respond to imminent attacks and threats. Moreover, their warfare power is restricted by Congress. The second article enables them to direct military operations as soon as Congress declares war. They are responsible for mobilizing the army under the guidelines of the legislators.
However, successive presidents used the ability to direct the army on the basis of emergency to carry out the attacks they put as defensive or in response to the threats.
How did the United States send soldiers to Iraq and other places without official announcements of the war?
After announcing the war, Congress may give the president powers to use the army to achieve specific targets through legislation known as the AUMF.
For example, in the wake of 9/11 attacks in 2001The AUMF Congress approved President George W. Bush is wide at the time to conduct what will become the global “war on terror”.
A year later, AUMF passed another that allowed the army to use against Saddam Hussein’s government in Iraq, which became the basis of the 2003 invasion.
The two licenses remain in place, and the presidents still depend on them to carry out strikes without requesting the approval of Congress first. For example, the assassination of the supreme Iranian general Djibouti and Somali In 2020 in Baghdad, Trump was betrayed under 2003 AUMF.
During the first period of Trump, there were concerns that he could use AUMF for 2001 to strike Iran with an unfounded prosecution that Tehran supports the base.
When was the law of war authorities passed?
Despite the articles described in the constitution, the presidents have found ways to avoid Congress in war matters. So in 1973, decades of American intervention in Vietnam and other places in Asia, the legislators acknowledged the decision of the war authorities to reaffirm their authority over military action.
The law restricts the president’s powers to make war-or that was at least his intention.
It has been passed yet President Richard Nixon’s secret bombing of KambodiaThat killed dozens or even hundreds of thousands of civilians and led to widespread protests in the United States.

What are the main provisions of the War powers law?
Federal Law is designed to reduce the authority of the US President in the United States to commit an armed conflict.
The decision -making resolution in Nixon requires “the absence of a war declaring” that the President notifies the Congress within 48 hours of military action and limits publications to 60 or 90 days, the licenses have not been extended.
Before committing American forces abroad, congress should be consulted “in every possible case,” she says.
Why are the war forces related to now?
With the possibility of the United States to interfere with Iran, lawmakers are looking for five decades and pushing their own copies.
On Monday, Democratic Senator Tim Kane presented a bill that requires Trump, Republican, Application for delegation From Congress before ordering military strikes against Iran. This was followed by a similar draft law that was brought up in the House of Representatives on Tuesday by American actors Thomas Massi from Kentucky, Republic, and Democrat Rowna from California.
The law of no war against Iran, which was presented by Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont, seeks to “ban the use of funds for military power against Iran and for other purposes.”
But even when some opinion polls find that Trump’s supporters against the war with Iran, the approval of such laws in the legislative body controlled by Republicans is still not likely.
Why is there a need for new legislation if it is in the constitution?
Despite the constitutional separation of the war authorities, the executive and legislative branches may roam these roles throughout the history of the United States.
The most prominent of these incidents – and the last time this case reached the Supreme Court in reality – in 1861 at the beginning of the American Civil War when President Abraham Lincoln surrounded the southern ports months before Congress announced the war legally on the Confederation. Ultimately, the highest court ruled that the president’s actions were constitutional because the executive authority “may repel sudden attacks.”
Throughout history, statements of the official war of the war Remain rare. There was only 11.
Instead, Congress has traditionally authorized a wide range of military decisions.
Do the war forces have any teeth?
Since almost its approval, some critics have seen the 1973 law as very ineffective – more than a political tool for legislators to express the opposition more than the real examination of power. (In the eighties of the last century, then Joe Biden experts led a sub -committee that concluded that the law is less than his intention.)
Congress decisions that seek to end the unauthorized military enlargements by Congress are subject to the right to presidential veto, which can only be overcome by a majority of two -thirds of votes in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Others have argued that the law has occupied an important role in confirming the rights of Congress and creating a framework for rapid presidential reports to Congress. More than 100 reports have been sent to Congress since 1973 Providing manifestations From transparency.
How do presidents see the verb?
While Nixon was the most stringent in his opposition to the law of war forces, he hardly the only president who seems critical. Modern presidents routinely avoided the law, using creative legal arguments to work on its requirements.
The executive authority has since expanded the powers of war making, especially after September 11, 2001.
AUMF was used for the year 2001 and IRQ AUMF for 2002 to justify the attacks on “terrorist groups” in at least 19 countries, according to the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
“The executive authority has spanned the license to cover groups that were not related to the September 11 attacks, including those such as ISIS (ISIS), which were not present at that time,” said Heather Brandon Smith, Legislative Director of Non -profit foreign policy.
While organizations such as the International Crisis Group urged AUMF, successive departments have shown little attention to doing this. In recent years, Congress efforts to cancel the 2001 and 2002 AUMFS began to be cut off in deeds.
Senate in 2023 voice To cancel the 2001 AUMF, although this step was largely looking as symbolic. Likewise home voice To cancel 2002 AUMF in 2021. But both laws are still ongoing.
Can the war forces prevent Trump from going to war with Iran?
It remains to see, but it does not seem likely.
During Trump’s first term in office, Congress sought to reduce the authority of the presidential war for the first time since the Vietnam War.
In 2019, Congress consent A bill to end the United States to support the Saudi -Saudi war in Yemen, which Trump quickly Veto.
A year later, a similar situation was run after Trump ordered the drone strike that killed Soleimani.
In response, both congressional councils Pass Legislation seeking to reduce the president’s ability to launch a war against Iran.
Trump was subjected to this legislation, and again, there was not enough Republicans to meet the two -thirds majority of both councils to overcome the veto.
With a balance of power in Congress since then, it completely turns into Republicans in Trump’s second term, the latest war war decisions face a more solid battle.
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