Schumer Slams Trump for Dragging U.S. Into War with Iran

(MENAFN) Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer launched a blistering broadside against President Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of unlawfully dragging the United States into a protracted war with Iran and vowing that Senate Democrats would force yet another congressional vote to halt US military involvement in the conflict.

Taking to the Senate floor, Schumer charged that the Trump administration had blown past the 60-day window mandated by the War Powers Act — without securing a single vote of congressional authorization.

"Let me repeat: Donald Trump dragged America into a war, an illegal, costly war without any goals, without any endgame," Schumer said.

He pressed the point further, dismissing the administration's claim that hostilities had already ceased and that the statutory clock had therefore stopped running.

"It's been over a week since we hit the 60-day threshold under the War Powers Act, which means the hostilities must cease unless Trump gets authorization from Congress. Donald Trump and (Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth tried to skirt the deadline when they told us the timer had stopped because the fighting was over," he continued.

Schumer was contemptuous of any suggestion that the war had wound down, pointing to the collapse of the latest diplomatic talks with Tehran as proof the conflict remains dangerously alive.

"The war's over? Bunk, poppycock craziness to even say it," he said.

"To this war, there's still no end in sight," Schumer added. "Just today, the most recent round of negotiations with Iran fell apart. Trump keeps digging himself into a deeper and deeper hole."

Democrats are now preparing to push a seventh War Powers resolution to the floor this week — a measure that would compel the withdrawal of US forces from active hostilities with Iran.

"Republicans know that this blunder didn't magically end when the 60-day clock ran out," Schumer said. "It's time to do something about it."

The Senate minority leader issued a direct challenge to Republican colleagues, framing the vote as a test of constitutional principle, troop safety, and fiscal responsibility.

"If Republicans care about preserving our war powers, keeping our service members safe, lowering Americans' costs, they need to support the War Powers resolution and end this war," Schumer said.

He warned that any Republican opposition to the measure would make the GOP co-owners of the conflict's consequences.

The war was ignited on Feb. 28, when the US and Israel launched coordinated strikes against Iran, drawing retaliatory blows from Tehran against Israeli territory and US Gulf allies, and triggering Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A ceasefire brokered through Pakistani mediation took effect on April 8, but subsequent talks in Islamabad failed to yield a durable settlement. Trump later extended the truce without attaching a fixed deadline.

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