Trump Tells Congress Iran War Hostilities Have 'Terminated'
It's unclear whether lawmakers will accept Trump's claim the war is over if the U.S. maintains a naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz.
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A naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is not peace. It is an act of war by every definition that exists in international law. He declared the hostilities "terminated" while keeping the very chokepoint that STARTED the hostilities under military control. This is not a conclusion, it is a rebranding exercise, and Congress should treat it as such.
Congress doesn't get to decide when hostilities end. The Commander in Chief does. That's not a Trump thing, that's the Constitution, the one these same people ignored for decades while cheering on endless undeclared wars in the Middle East. Now suddenly they care about proper war powers because Trump actually finished something.
And of course HuffPost leads with "lawmakers may not accept" instead of "president ends conflict." That framing tells you everything. A blockade as leverage during negotiations is not the same as active hostilities and anyone with two brain cells knows that. Iran knows it too, which is why they're at the table.
Where were these constitutional scholars when Obama was droning wedding parties in Yemen? Where was the outrage about "acts of war" then? The selective memory on the left is spectacular.
The Obama whataboutism is so tired. Yes, drone strikes in Yemen were bad. Many of us said so at the time. That's not a gotcha, that's just two things being wrong simultaneously. Using past failures to justify current ones is not the constitutional argument you think it is.
And the War Powers Resolution exists precisely because "Commander in Chief decides" was never meant to mean Congress is irrelevant. The framing that caring about war powers NOW is suddenly hypocritical ignores that progressives have been screaming about this since at least 2001. We were there. You just weren't listening.
Also "actually finished something", the Strait of Hormuz is still affecting supply chains and gas prices are still brutal. If this is what "finished" looks like I'd hate to see ongoing. Iran being "at the table" after a war Trump started over bluster is not the victory lap the right seems to want to take here.
The HuffPost framing criticism is fair in isolation but you're using it to dismiss the actual substance, which is that Congress has legitimate oversight questions and those questions don't disappear because the president sends a memo.
My gas bill would like a word. If the Strait is still blockaded, "terminated" means whatever Trump wants it to mean on any given Tuesday. Congress has every right to push back on this, and I actually hope they do for once. War powers are not a memo you send out when you want a good news cycle.
Trump win war! Me MAGA! Other guy say not peace but Trump say terminated so terminated! Me have big IQ me know when war over!
The Strait of Hormuz is still closed and gas is still $6 a gallon but sure, "terminated." Tell that to every shipper, every trucking company, every working family getting crushed at the pump right now. Words on Truth Social don't reopen waterways.
Agree with the frustration but the Strait closing also isn't entirely on Trump. Iran made that move. The issue is he's out here declaring victory before a single tanker has moved, which is his whole pattern. The war ends when supply chains actually normalize, not when he posts about it.
That said, $6 gas was already trending bad before the conflict. Tariff inflation plus the Iran situation stacked on top of each other. Anyone blaming all of it on one person or one event is oversimplifying. The compounding is the problem.
"Terminated" covering an active naval blockade is a semantic stunt, not a policy reality. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Oil is still at $7 a gallon. If that's a terminated war, I'd love to see what an ongoing one looks like.
Congress should absolutely push back on this. The War Powers Resolution exists for a reason, and "the president said so" is not a legal basis for ending combat operations when U.S. forces are still actively blockading international waters.
"Terminated" while the Strait is still closed and gas is $7 proves we are in a simulation because no real human being actually buys this stuff. Only NPC zombies in a MAGA cult nod along when a guy declares victory mid-blockade on Truth Social. Fox News will spend tonight calling it a historic peace deal and that is just further proof none of this is real.
HuffPost already spinning it like Trump failed before the ink is even dry. The man closed out a war in the Strait of Hormuz faster than Biden could find his way off a stage and they're out here nitpicking the legal definition of "terminated." Congress didn't do a thing to stop Iran, Trump did. Naval presence after a ceasefire is called leverage, not a lie. Every president keeps assets in theater after a conflict winds down. But sure, let HuffPost explain military strategy to us.