Trump Notifies Congress of War With Iran, Starting 60-Day Military Clock

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President Donald Trump formally notified lawmakers this weekend that the nation is once again at war with Iran, giving his administration another 60-day clock to use the military in the region without congressional approval.

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.”

The on-again, off-again war has proved very difficult for Trump to resolve, as the two nations wrestle over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital choke point for world energy supplies. Trump has fumed about an inability to strike a peace deal with Iran, while Republicans worry about being blamed for high gas prices ahead of the midterm elections.

Trump further ratcheted up military pressure against Iran on Monday, declaring that the U.S. will reimpose a blockade and will take over the strait, charging ships to transit the waterway.

The notification to lawmakers follows Trump’s declaration that the two-month ceasefire with Iran has officially ended . A truce, first declared in April, had been shaky from the start amid frequent attacks from both countries, though the Trump administration had repeatedly insisted that a full-on war hadn’t resumed.

U.S. Central Command officials have said that American military forces have struck more than 300 Iranian military targets in the last week, in retaliation for Tehran’s continued hostilities in the strait.

Trump had previously notified lawmakers in May that the war launched in February had “terminated,” thereby negating a 60-day legal deadline under which military operations must halt without congressional authorization.

The ceasefire that went into effect in early April at that time had been indefinitely extended. The White House had argued that the move stopped the war powers clock.

Opponents of the war on Capitol Hill, however, contended that argument was a misreading of the law. They noted that the U.S. Navy was still engaging in a blockade meant to force Tehran’s hand, even if major combat operations had halted.

The fresh notification likely complicates ongoing efforts by Congress to curb the war in Iran.

The Senate last month voted to end the hostilities in what was a largely symbolic rebuke of the conflict but still a loss for Trump, who has seen a slow erosion of congressional support for his military engagements against Tehran.

That vote , 50-48, was fueled by four Republicans who joined Democrats to vote against the war unless it was given the green light by Congress. Their votes, combined with the absences of Sens. Dave McCormick (R-Pa.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), were enough to propel the war powers measure forward.

The Senate action followed a similar successful vote in the House , where four Republicans joined Democrats, 215-208, to call for a halt to military operations in Iran unless authorized by Congress.

But the legal impact of those votes was limited. Concurrent resolutions are legally untested pieces of legislation that do not go to the president to be signed into law. Any measure that could restrict those presidential powers would almost certainly face a veto from the White House.

In the letter to Congress, Trump wrote that U.S. military forces “remain postured to take further action, as necessary and appropriate, to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners and to ensure the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran ceases being a threat to the United States and to our allies and partners.”

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.