Congressional leaders across the nation are responding to President Donald Trump’s decision to bomb three separate nuclear facilities in Iran late Saturday, escalating tensions in the Middle East and emphasizing the United States’ commitment to aiding Israel.
President Trump authorized the US military to use warplanes and submarines to attack the three nuclear sites—Fordo, Natanz, and Isfahan—on early Sunday morning, Iran time.
Late Saturday evening in Washington, DC, Trump addressed the nation, flanked by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. Trump called Iran the “bully” of the Middle East and told Iranian leaders to “make peace.” “If they do not,” he continued, “future attacks will be far greater—and a lot easier.”
“I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them,” Trump said. “God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and God bless America.”
Israel said they were in “full coordination” with the US in planning the strikes. Trump spoke directly to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying they “worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before.”
Trump’s Saturday actions conflict with his past rhetoric on propping up and engaging in wars around the globe. During a January 6, 2024, rally before the Iowa caucuses, the then-candidate Trump told supporters that returning him to the White House would allow the country to “turn the page forever on those foolish, stupid days of never-ending wars.”
Many Republicans have praised the strikes, or at least expressed trust in Trump as a commander in chief. Leading congressional Democrats, however, have criticized Trump’s decision-making and raised concerns that Saturday’s actions could risk the safety of US service members and spur counterattacks from Iran. Several members of Congress in both parties, as NBC News reported, have questioned the legality of President Trump’s decision and suggested it was unconstitutional for him to bomb Iran without approval from Congress, including Republican Representatives Warren Davidson of Ohio and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. Trump announced the attack via his social media site, Truth Social.
According to reporting from CNN based on people familiar with US intelligence assessments of Iran’s nuclear weapons capacity, “not only was Iran not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon, it was also up to three years away from being able to produce and deliver one to a target of its choosing.”
The top Democrat in the House, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, said Trump “misled the country.”
“First,” Jeffries wrote in a statement, “the Trump administration bears the heavy burden of explaining to the American people why this military action was undertaken. Second, Congress must be fully and immediately briefed in a classified setting. Third, Donald Trump shoulders complete and total responsibility for any adverse consequences that flow from his unilateral military action.”
Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the leading Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, wrote on X above a screenshot of Trump’s Truth Social post, “According to the Constitution we are both sworn to defend, my attention to this matter comes BEFORE bombs fall. Full stop.”
Some top Republicans in Congress were briefed on the military actions, according to reporting from ABC News.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune was informed of the strikes and, following Trump’s announcement, wrote, “I stand with President Trump and pray for the American troops and personnel in harm’s way.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson was also aware of the strikes ahead of time. The speaker was poised to be in Israel on Sunday to address the Knesset, but the trip was cancelled because of the ongoing conflict. Johnson in an X post said that Trump “made the right call” and “did what he needed to do.”
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Senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas, both vocal Iran hawks, were quick to praise the strikes.
“We can’t be the commander-in-chief,” Graham told NBC’s Kristen Welker on Sunday. “You can’t have 535 commander-in-chiefs.” The South Carolina senator also said Iran was in the “hands of religious Nazis” who were “coming after us.”
In an interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl on Sunday, Cotton said, “Iran needs to heed President Trump’s warning.”
“We haven’t targeted other critical infrastructure,” Cotton said. “That’s an implicit message that Iran still has things that they hold dear that neither the United States nor Israel has struck.”
Several Democratic senators on the Armed Services Committee referred Vanity Fair to statements criticizing Trump’s escalation.
Ranking Democratic member Jack Reed of Rhode Island called the move a “massive gamble by President Trump” that “nobody knows yet whether it will pay off.”
“It’s easier to start wars than end them. Even though the US maintains military dominance, we are in a dangerous stage that could lead to significant instability in the region and beyond. We must be prepared for contingencies going forward,” he said. “I strongly urge the Trump Administration to immediately pursue restraint, diplomacy, and international engagement to prevent further bloodshed.”
“I expect a full, classified brief on the strikes in Iran, and the strategy and force protection plans, as soon as possible,” Senator Elissa Slotkin of Michigan, a former CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq, wrote on X. “While it’s too early to know the results, a successful strike by our capable military wasn’t the primary question. The real question is: what happens the day after? A strike can have major repercussions for safety and stability across the region. As someone who served in Iraq and saw up close the loss of blood and treasure over 20 years, I don’t want to be embroiled in another drawn-out conflict, and neither do the American people.”
Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq War combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient, didn’t mince words in her statement.
“I ran for Congress so that when the drums of war started beating in Washington again, I’d be in a position to make sure that our leaders fully consider the true costs of war—not just in dollars and cents, but in the sacrifices and blood of our troops,” Duckworth said. “The Trump Administration illegally bombed Iran tonight, putting American troops and citizens at risk of retaliation and threatening to draw us into yet another Middle East war without Constitutionally-required Congressional approval.”
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While Secretary Hegseth claimed that Trump and the Defense Department complied “with the notification requirements of the War Powers Act,” which says the president must notify Congress within 48 hours of military action, several congressional leaders appeared to hear about the strikes at the same time as the American public.
As Bernie Sanders addressed the crowd at his “Fighting Oligarchy” tour stop in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday, a member of the audience yelled out: “We just bombed Iran!”
Seconds later, a member of Sanders’s team hurried onstage to hand him a piece of paper with Trump’s announcement. According to the Vermont senator, it was the first time he learned about the strikes. He read Trump’s statement aloud, referring to the military action as “grossly unconstitutional” while the room erupted in a chant of “NO MORE WAR!”
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