‘No endgame’: Why US Democrats say Iran war hearing has them worried

A group of Democrats in the United States Senate is demanding public hearings on the country’s war against Iran after receiving a series of classified briefings from officials in President Donald Trump’s administration.

“A group of Democrats in the United States Senate is demanding public hearings on the country’s war against Iran after receiving a series of classified briefings from officials in President Donald Trump’s administration”

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Lawmakers say the White House has not clearly explained why the US entered the conflict, what its goals are, or how long it may last.

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Since the US and Israel launched attacks on Iran on February 28, senior officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, have held several closed-door meetings to brief Congress members on the military campaign and its progress.

Republicans currently hold a narrow, 53-47 Senate majority, which gives them the power to control what legislation comes to the floor for debate.

Trump has not ruled out sending US ground troops into Iran.

Several Democratic senators said they left the briefings frustrated, arguing that the administration had not provided clear answers about the war’s objectives, timeline or long-term strategy.

Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut said after a two-hour classified briefing that the strategy was "totally incoherent" and argued that if the president sought congressional authorisation he would not get it.

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Senator Richard Blumenthal said, "There seems to be no endgame," and warned of a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran.

Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns about the cost, saying "there’s a billion dollars a day to spend on bombing Iran."

Six Democratic senators called for an investigation into a strike on a girls’ school in Minab in southern Iran that reports indicate killed at least 170 people, most of them children.

Republicans have almost unanimously backed Trump’s campaign against Iran, saying the strikes are necessary to curb Iran’s military capabilities, missile programme and regional influence.

“A group of Democrats in the United States Senate is demanding public hearings on the country’s war against Iran after receiving a series of classified briefings from officials in President Donald Trump’s administration”

Al Jazeera

They argue the operation is limited in scope to weaken Iran's ability to threaten US forces and allies.

Republican Representative Brian Mast of Florida, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, publicly thanked Trump for taking action and said the president is using his constitutional authority to defend the US against the "imminent threat" posed by Tehran.

Some Republicans expressed reservations: Representative Nancy Mace said she did "not want to send South Carolina’s sons and daughters into war with Iran."

Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky said the administration keeps changing its narrative and that "we keep hearing new reasons for war with Iran—none convincing."

The dispute has revived debate in Washington about the limits of presidential war powers and Congress’s authority to declare war under the US Constitution.

The law allows the president to deploy US forces for up to 60 days without congressional authorisation, followed by a 30-day withdrawal period if Congress does not approve the action.

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David Schultz, a professor at Hamline University, said one could argue the president’s actions violate the Constitution or exceed his authority under the War Powers Act and therefore could be illegal and unconstitutional.

The Trump administration has argued the February 28 strikes were justified as a response to an "imminent threat."

US intelligence agencies had said before the start of the war that they had no evidence of an imminent Iranian threat to the US or its facilities across the Middle East.