For the third time since President Trump began the war against Iran, Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked an effort by Democrats to terminate the offensive until he wins congressional authorization.
The Senate voted 53 to 47 to block a resolution that would force the president to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress voted to approve what Mr. Trump has called Operation Epic Fury, which is now in its fourth week. It was the latest failure by Democrats to use a war powers resolution to reassert congressional authority to direct the use of American military power overseas.
They have threatened to continue forcing such votes, seizing floor time that Republicans would rather use to advance their legislative priorities, unless the majority agrees to call senior Trump administration officials to testify under oath on the war against Iran. The Pentagon and the State Department have so far only briefed lawmakers on the operations in a classified setting, and the G.O.P. chairmen of the committees that oversee national security and foreign affairs have yet to summon them for a public accounting.
The vote was nearly on party lines, with Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania the only Democrat to vote with Republicans to block the measure. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was the only Republican to support it. A libertarian who has consistently opposed involving the United States military in foreign conflicts and insisted on Congress’s role, Mr. Paul has led several war powers resolutions, together with Senator Tim Kaine, Democrat of Virginia.
House Democrats could again try to force a vote on a war powers resolution on Iran, after Republicans voted down a similar measure earlier this month. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, said Tuesday that “when we present something on the floor, it’s our determination to win.” But Republicans in that chamber would be all but certain to block it.
Democrats have clamored for greater transparency over the conflict with Iran, arguing the president has kept Congress in the dark about the objectives, timeline and costs of the operations.
“It’s bad enough that we haven’t had a debate and vote, other than those forced by Democrats,” said Senator Christopher S. Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, who offered the war powers resolution on Tuesday. “We haven’t had a hearing in the Foreign Relations Committee. We haven’t had a hearing in the Armed Services Committee.”
“Now I think we know the reason,” he added. “The reason is that this administration cannot defend and explain this war.”
Mr. Kaine has spearheaded his party’s use of a provision in the 1973 War Powers Act that requires expedited floor consideration of a measure to curb the president’s power to engage in hostilities without consulting and seeking approval from Congress.
Mr. Kaine forced the first vote to halt the war and require the president to seek approval from Congress to continue the operation against Iran. The Senate blocked that measure in the early days of the war, and last week blocked a similar resolution sponsored by Senator Cory Booker, Democrat of New Jersey.
Republicans in both chambers have almost unanimously supported the president since he ordered strikes on Tehran on Feb. 28, when he claimed that the military action was necessary to “defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” A vast majority of G.O.P. members say the administration has met its requirement to consult with Congress on the war by holding several classified briefings with lawmakers.
“The fact of the matter is, we are in conflict,” Senator Jim Risch, Republican of Idaho and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said on the floor Tuesday. He added: “We have our brave young men and women fighting for the United States of America. So we need to back those people. We need to back the president of the United States. We all know this isn’t going to go on very long, but it needs to be done.”
But Democrats argue that it is an extraordinary dereliction by Congress not to exert its authority on a military campaign of this scale and compel top officials to testify about it in public hearings.
Mr. Booker said on the floor Tuesday that the weeks since the war on Iran began have been “one of the more shameful stretches of this body — no hearings, no oversight, no checks and balances.”
“If our Republican colleagues will not do their duty, if they are going to engage in an effort to hide the consequences of the war,” said Mr. Murphy, then Democrats will continue to “force a debate and a vote on this floor.” Mr. Kaine said that Democrats “plan on coming back every week” to do just that.
The Trump administration has also used the war with Iran to declare an emergency to speed arms sales to Middle East allies, in what Democrats contend is yet another example of the president’s contempt for congressional oversight.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, an independent who caucuses with Democrats, could force a vote in the coming days on a resolution that would block the sale of more than 20,000 bombs to Israel, proposed transfers that were not approved by lawmakers.
The State Department declared a second wartime emergency on Thursday to bypass Congress on more than $23 billion in weapons sales to the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement that “any so-called emergency arms deal that does not go through the proper vetting channels must be carefully scrutinized.”
Robert Jimison contributed reporting.
Megan Mineiro is a Times congressional reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for early-career journalists.
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