Iran war over;White House says Iran war “terminated” as Trump bypasses War Powers deadline

Washington-(Special Correspondent/Web Desk)-The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has argued that a ceasefire with Iran effectively brought an end to hostilities, just as a key legal deadline under the War Powers Resolution expired on Friday.

Under the law, a U.S. president can engage in military action for up to 60 days without congressional approval, after which they must either seek authorization, withdraw forces, or request a limited extension citing urgent military necessity. The timeline began after Trump formally notified Congress within 48 hours of the first joint U.S.-Israeli airstrikes on Iran launched on February 28.

As the May 1 deadline approached, officials within the administration signaled that they did not consider the legal requirement applicable, maintaining that the ceasefire had already concluded the conflict. A senior official stated that, for the purposes of the War Powers Resolution, the hostilities had effectively “terminated.”

Meanwhile, diplomatic activity continued, with IRNA reporting that Tehran had submitted a revised negotiation proposal through mediators in Islamabad. Analysts and congressional aides had anticipated the administration might take such a position, potentially avoiding a formal request for congressional authorization.

Trump rejects Iran’s new offer, signals talks still uncertain

No way out: Democrat Senator

Congressional Democrats, who have tried repeatedly to pass war powers legislation that would force Trump to end the war or come to Congress for authorisation, dismissed that characterisation, saying there was nothing in the 1973 law allowing for a ceasefire.

They also said the continuing deployment of US ships blockading Iranian oil exports was evidence of continuing hostility, not a ceasefire.

“After sixty days of conflict, President Trump still does not have a strategy or way out for this poorly planned war,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in a statement calling the deadline “a clear legal threshold” for Trump to act.

Party loyalty as elections loom

Trump’s fellow Republicans, who hold slim majorities in the Senate and House of Representatives and rarely break from Trump, have voted almost unanimously to block every resolution seeking to end the conflict.

The Iran war has killed thousands, caused billions of dollars in damage and roiled world markets, disrupting energy shipments and boosting a wide range of consumer prices.

Polls show the war is unpopular among Americans, six months before the November elections that will determine who controls Congress next year.

Trump’s approval rating sank to the lowest level of his current term this week, as Americans blamed the war for higher prices.

The US Constitution says only Congress, not the ⁠president, can ​declare war, but that restriction does not apply to ​short-term operations or to counter an immediate threat.

On Thursday, Trump received a briefing on plans for fresh military strikes to compel Iran to negotiate an end to the conflict.

If fighting resumes, Trump can tell lawmakers he has started a new 60-day clock. Presidents from both parties have repeatedly done so when waging intermittent hostilities since Congress passed the War Powers Act in response to the Vietnam War.

That conflict, widely unpopular with Americans, was also not authorised by Congress.