Lawmakers seek to limit Trump's war powers after Iran strikes

There are significant concerns in Washington after President Donald Trump launched strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities.
Lawmakers and political factions across the spectrum have expressed apprehension about the potential for a prolonged conflict, or 'forever war' with Iran, drawing parallels to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Opposition to military intervention in Iran has unified diverse groups, including progressives, pro-Trump conservatives, and centrist Democrats.
Top administration officials said the US was not seeking to overthrow Iran's government but aimed to counter its nuclear program.
Efforts are underway by some members of Congress to limit the president's war powers, with bipartisan calls for congressional authorization for military action.

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John Swinney 'concerned' UK could become part of Middle East conflict

Tensions escalated further over the weekend as the US struck three of Iran's nuclear sites and President Donald Trump floated the idea of 'regime change' in the country following strikes between it and Israel. While Downing Street said on Monday the focus would be on 'diplomacy', a spokesman for Number 10 said preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon was a 'good thing'. Speaking during a visit to a school in the Springburn area of Glasgow on Monday, John Swinney urged the international community to work to find a resolution. READ MORE: LIVE: Palestine Action protest in London as group to be proscribed 'I share the concerns of Scots about the events in Iran over the weekend,' he said. 'To wake up to what we woke up to yesterday morning is very, very frightening and alarming and I don't think any of us should underestimate the significance and the severity of the situation that we face.' He added: 'That's why I have made a strong plea for every resource of the international community to be deployed to de-escalate the situation and to get the world to step back from the brink.' Swinney went on to encourage the UK Government to 'put all of their weight' behind diplomatic efforts to stem the conflict. Asked if he was concerned about British involvement in the conflict, he said: 'There's obviously the potential for this to have very wide-ranging implications and they could involve the United Kingdom. 'So, of course, I'm concerned about that point. 'I think we need to step back, to find a negotiated settlement to the issues that have been raised and to avoid any further escalation, which will simply increase the severity and the significance of the dangers that we all face.'

Reuters

21 minutes ago

• Reuters

UN nuclear watchdog has limited oversight in Iran. Here's why

VIENNA, June 23 (Reuters) - The U.N. nuclear watchdog, which polices the global nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has not been able to carry out inspections in Iran since Israel launched military strikes on its nuclear facilities on June 13. Below is an outline of the International Atomic Energy Agency's inspection powers. No. The IAEA's oversight is limited to the 191 states that are signatories to the NPT, and other countries it has separate arrangements with. Iran is a party to the NPT and thus subject to IAEA oversight including inspections meant to ensure that no nuclear material such as uranium is "diverted" for use in atomic bombs. Israel is not a party to the NPT and is the only country in the Middle East widely believed to have nuclear weapons. Israel does not confirm or deny having them. It has a limited safeguards agreement with the IAEA that provides for the agency to oversee some materials and facilities - a fraction of what Israel has and not any of what is widely believed to be its nuclear weapons programme. Iran, by contrast, has a Comprehensive Safeguards Agreement (CSA) with the IAEA under which it must account for all its proliferation-sensitive nuclear material, including every gram of enriched uranium. No. It is largely restricted to inspecting Iran's declared nuclear installations as provided for by its 1974 CSA - sites such as the three uranium enrichment plants at Natanz and Fordow that were operating until Israel bombed them on June 13. It had regular access to those facilities until they were attacked. Since then, they have been "closed" and inspectors have not been allowed in, the IAEA has said, adding that it hopes its inspectors will return as soon as possible. Yes. A 2015 deal between Iran and major powers placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities but also extended the IAEA's oversight to parts of Iran's nuclear programme not covered by the CSA, such as its production and stock of centrifuges, the machines that enrich uranium. It was the most comprehensive IAEA oversight of any country. Much of that additional oversight came from Iran agreeing, as part of the 2015 pact, to apply the Additional Protocol, an add-on to countries' CSAs that the IAEA developed to strengthen its hand in preventing nuclear proliferation. Iran has signed but never ratified the Additional Protocol. One of the most important extra tools the Additional Protocol gives the IAEA is the power to carry out snap inspections - short-notice access to locations including ones that Iran has not declared to be nuclear-related. In 2018, during his first term, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal, reimposing U.S. sanctions on Iran that had been lifted as part of the agreement. In retaliation, as of the following year, Iran began pushing past the deal's limits on its nuclear activities but also scaled back the extra IAEA oversight introduced by the deal. In February 2021 Iran said it would no longer carry out its extra commitments under the 2015 deal, including implementation of the Additional Protocol. It struck a deal with the IAEA to keep monitoring equipment like surveillance cameras added under the deal rolling, but ordered them all removed in June 2022. Reducing the IAEA's oversight not only took away the important tool of snap inspections. It also left blind spots in the areas to which extra oversight had been applied. The IAEA now says it has lost so-called "continuity of knowledge" for so many years that it will never be able to fully piece together what happened in areas including the production and inventory of centrifuges and certain key centrifuge parts, as well as Iran's stock of "yellowcake" - uranium that has not been enriched. The fact many centrifuges are unaccounted for means it cannot be ruled out that they will be used to enrich uranium in secret at an undeclared facility. Such a facility would be easy to hide in a relatively small building such as a warehouse. The IAEA says it cannot guarantee Iran's nuclear activity is entirely for peaceful purposes but it also has no credible indications of a coordinated nuclear weapons programme. Iran has threatened to pull out of the NPT, while at the same time saying it would not develop nuclear weapons if it did. Tehran has complained that the treaty and non-proliferation regime failed to protect it from attack by a country with a nuclear arsenals, the United States, and another widely believed to have one, Israel. The NPT allows for withdrawal by a party at three months' notice "if it decides that extraordinary events, related to the subject matter of this Treaty, have jeopardized the supreme interests of its country". The only country to announce its withdrawal from the NPT is North Korea in 2003, which expelled IAEA inspectors before testing nuclear weapons.

The Independent

24 minutes ago

• The Independent

AOC humiliates Pete Hegseth after tweet congratulating him on not leaking Iran attack information

Praise poured in for Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth after he didn't leak U.S. plans to bomb Iranian nuclear sites – a low standard Democrats were quick to mock. Newsmax host Todd Starnes applauded Hegseth's efforts on X, writing, Not a single leak. Well done, @SecDef' seemingly referencing the so-called 'Signal-gate' scandal. The incident saw the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic added to a group chat with national security officials, including Hegseth, as a drone strike got underway against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Critics of President Donald Trump's administration, led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, held back any praise for the embattled Defense Secretary. 'This is like applauding a grown man for being able to wipe their behind,' the New York Democrat wrote on X. 'Not exactly a vote of confidence.' Other X users were quick to join in on the mocking, with one person adding, 'LOL. He didn't pee himself either! WHAT A BIG BOY!' 'The signal app was down,' another social media user joked. 'This is such an embarrassing new standard to try to celebrate,' another person said. Another user quipped: 'MAGA praising Pete for not leaking war plans again is like giving a toddler a medal for not eating glue – congratulations, he finally did the bare minimum.' Hegseth described the U.S. strikes on three major Iranian nuclear sites as an 'incredible and overwhelming success,' adding that they 'devastated the Iranian nuclear program.' The strikes have also drawn swift threats of retaliation from some Iranian leaders, including the country's army chief, who warned the strikes have given Tehran a 'free hand' to 'act against U.S. interests and its army.' UN officials on Monday said 'very significant damage' was caused in the U.S. bombardment, which followed strikes from Israel just days before. Israel launched airstrikes on Iran earlier this month on June 13, after accusing it of being days way from developing a nuclear weapon. The attack kicked off a long-feared war that the U.S. directly entered over the weekend. Ocasio-Cortez also called the strikes ' grounds for impeachment, ' which sparked backlash from the likes of former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani and Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.