Democrats say White House offers no clarity on Iran war goals after 11 days

Several Democrats emerged from a classified briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee saying they still have little clarity about President Donald Trump’s justifications and end goals, even 11 days into the conflict.

“Washington, DC – Several Democrats in the United States have emerged from a classified briefing about the war on Iran, saying they still have little clarity about President Donald Trump’s justifications and end goals, even 11 days into the conflict”

Al Jazeera

Senator Richard Blumenthal said, “I emerge from this briefing as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years.”

Al Jazeera

Blumenthal said the meeting piqued concerns that US forces may be deployed to either Iraq or Iran and that he was “left with more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war.”

Senator Elizabeth Warren said the Trump administration “cannot explain the reasons that we entered this war, the goals we’re trying to accomplish and the methods for doing that”, and Senator Jacky Rosen described what she heard as “not just concerning. It is disturbing.”

Democrats have pushed legislative measures to halt the war but been largely sidelined as Republicans blocked a war powers resolution and other efforts.

Party members in both chambers had recently voted in near unison on resolutions seeking to halt the war, which the US and Israel launched on February 28, but their effort to pass a “war powers resolution” to rein in Trump failed amid widespread Republican opposition.

Al Jazeera

Democrats have pledged to delay proceedings in the Senate unless top officials from the Department of State and the Pentagon testify under oath about the war, and Senator Cory Booker said Democrats had “collectively agreed” to use procedural mechanisms to block normal Senate business until those officials testify.

Only a handful of Republicans have joined Democrats in their legislative efforts.

The Trump administration has offered shifting rationales for the campaign and varying timelines for its end, while officials have signalled escalations on the ground.

“Washington, DC – Several Democrats in the United States have emerged from a classified briefing about the war on Iran, saying they still have little clarity about President Donald Trump’s justifications and end goals, even 11 days into the conflict”

Al Jazeera

US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pledged to conduct the “most intense day” of strikes since the war began and said the fighting would not stop “until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated” and “We do so on our timeline and at our choosing.”

The administration blamed Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its ballistic missile programme for the conflict, though the article says Tehran denied seeking a nuclear weapon and that experts have said available evidence does not support the Trump administration’s claims.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last week that the US attacked because Israel had planned to attack Iran, a circular rationale that Rubio and Trump subsequently backed away from, with Trump later claiming Iran was the one planning to strike first.

As of Tuesday, the war had killed at least 1,255 people in Iran, 394 people in Lebanon, 13 in Israel, six in Iraq and 14 across the Gulf, and some estimates put the cost at more than $5.6bn in the first two days alone.

Lawmakers and members of the public have called for investigations into specific strikes and into the motives of military leaders while public opposition grows.

Six Democratic senators called for an investigation into a strike on a girls’ school in Minab, in southern Iran, where several investigations have indicated the US was responsible and which the article says killed at least 170 people, mostly children.

Al Jazeera

Nearly 30 members of Congress called for an investigation into reports that US military leaders had used biblical motivations to justify the war to subordinates, with some reportedly invoking “religious prophecy and apocalyptic theology.”

The article also notes widespread public opposition with polls suggesting a majority of US citizens oppose the war.

Under the US Constitution only Congress can declare war, and the 1973 War Powers Resolution requires presidents to withdraw forces within 60 to 90 days of an unauthorised military campaign, but the article says Trump has denied he needs congressional backing for the military campaigns he has conducted since returning to office.