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Trump slams US Senate vote on Iran war: ‘Poorly timed, meaningless’
US and Iran are currently negotiating the technical details of the final deal to end the war in West Asia, after signing a memorandum on the same last week.
United States President Donald Trump hit out at the Senate late on Tuesday after it passed a war powers resolution seeking to curb military action against Iran, accusing lawmakers of undermining his negotiating position.
Calling the Senate vote “poorly timed” and “meaningless”, he claimed it would provide “aid and comfort to the enemy”. US and Iran are currently negotiating the technical details of the final deal to end the war in West Asia, after signing a memorandum on the same last week.
While the Senate resolution is largely symbolic and is not backed by the full force of law, this is the first time the Senate has approved a war powers resolution on a vote of 50-48, the Associated Press reported. While it was the 10th time the Senate attempted to stop the war, the vote was a turnaround from previous efforts.
‘Senators have just made my job more difficult’
In a post on Truth Social following the vote, Trump said his negotiating position had become “more difficult”, claiming that Iran had asked his representatives what the vote meant.
“So, I have Iran on the “ropes,” ready to go down for the fall, willing to give us practically anything, and for the first time in decades, respecting the hell out of the United States and its President, ME, and the US Senate decides to have a poorly timed and meaningless War Powers Act Vote, telling the Number One Sponser of Terror in the World that the United States doesn’t like what I am doing to them, and I must stop,” he said in the post.
“Iran asked my people, “what does that all mean?” These Senators have just made my job more difficult, but I will get it done, one way or the other, because I always get it done!” the US President added. Trump also labelled the four Republicans who had voted in favour of the resolution as “losers.” The four Republican lawmakers who broke ranks with their party were Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana and Rand Paul of Kentucky.
Why does the Senate vote mean?
While it still would not be able to stop the conflict by law and does not have much force given the US has signed a deal to end it, the vote does reflect the growing concerns of Republican lawmakers in both the House and Senate, AP reported. The resolution had earlier passed the US House of Representatives by a vote of 215-208, with four Republicans joining Democrats in supporting the war powers measure.
The US President has in the past drawn criticism from some of his own party leaders, who would have wanted him to take a harder line against Tehran. Republican Senator Ted Cruz had, last month, said Trump's decision to attack Iran was the “most consequential” of his second term, but said the outcome emerging from the deal with Tehran was a “disastrous mistake.”
“If the result of all that is to be an Iranian regime — still run by Islamists who chant ‘death to America’ — now receiving billions of dollars, being able to enrich uranium & develop nuclear weapons, and having effective control over the Strait of Hormuz, then that outcome would be a disastrous mistake,” Cruz had said in a post on X.
