Trump says he doesn’t want to call the Iran conflict a “war” because of the need for Congressional approval

President Trump suggested Wednesday night that he was avoiding explaining this military conflict with Iran “as a war” due to concerns about the fact that Congress did not authorize the military.

“I’m not going to use the word ‘war’ because they say, if you use the word war, that’s probably not a good thing to do,” the president said at an event for the House Republicans’ fundraising arm. “They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you have to get permission, so I’m going to use the word ‘military operation,’ which is exactly what it is.”

The president has avoided the word in the past, saying on Tuesday that “people don’t like me to use the word ‘war,’ so I won’t, but Democrats call it war.” At one point earlier this month, he told reporters that he viewed the conflict as “a trip that will keep us out of war.” He has also stated that the war in Iran is a temporary conflict that he expects to end soon.

But Mr. Trump has called it a war on several occasions, including in a speech on Wednesday evening, when he said: “The war ended within days of us going in.”

Behind the semantic issue is a legal question about whether the president needed Congressional approval to launch military strikes against Iran last month.

The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war, but makes the president the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The War Powers Act of the 1970s generally prohibits military action for 60 days unless Congress authorizes the use of military force, although presidents of both parties have tested the limits of that law. Mr. Trump said the law is unconstitutional.

Democratic lawmakers have argued that Mr. Trump has acted without legal authority by launching strikes against Iran without first seeking Congressional approval, and asking whether Iran poses an “imminent” threat to the US.

Since the start of the war, Senate Democrats have held three votes to end the US attack on Iran unless Congress authorizes it to continue, but those votes fell short due to opposition from Republicans. Of the latest vote On Tuesday, all Democrats except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted to support the war power of Mr. Trump on Iran, and all Republicans except Sen. Rand Paul from Kentucky. voted against it.

“I don’t think we’ve had a moment like this, when the United States is undoubtedly at war with a foreign power, when American soldiers are dying as we speak, and it’s being publicly hidden by Congress,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who sponsored the military power resolution, said before Tuesday’s procedural vote.

The Trump administration and many Republicans say the war is legally and constitutionally justified because of the threat posed by Iranian missiles. In a message to Congress after the start of the campaign, Mr. Trump said he “acted in accordance with my constitutional authority as Commander-in-Chief and Commander-in-Chief to conduct the foreign relations of the United States.”

“Despite my Administration’s repeated efforts to find a diplomatic solution to Iran’s misbehavior, the threat against the United States and its allies and partners has hardened,” Mr. Trump in the announcement.

Many members of the Republicans echoed the words of Mr. House Speaker Mike Johnson said in a press conference shortly after the US and Israel began striking Iran: “We are not at war right now.

This is not the first time that a military campaign has sparked a war of words. When former President Barack Obama launched airstrikes against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, his administration argued that it did not require congressional approval. At the time, officials wanted to clarify that the strikes counted as “war.”

“I think what we’re doing is enforcing a resolution that has clear goals, that protects the people of Libya, avoids a humanitarian crisis and establishes a no-fly zone,” Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes told reporters sometime in 2011, referring to the UN Security Council resolution. “Obviously that includes a military attack, especially on the front. But again, it’s kind of our commitment not to get into an endless war, a ground attack on Libya.”