US House passes war powers resolution to curb Trump’s authority in Iran

Stunning rebuke to president as lawmakers vote 215-208 for measure forcing him to seek congressional approval

The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to Donald Trump over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.

The House voted 215 to 208 in favor of the war powers resolution, as four Republicans voted with Democrats.

Wednesday’s vote came nearly two weeks after House Republicans cancelled an earlier scheduled vote , on the grounds that they lacked the votes to defeat it.

The Senate voted last month to advance a resolution forcing Trump to seek congressional approval after four Republican senators rebelled and voted with the Democrats.

The latest vote comes as efforts aimed at reaching a negotiated settlement to the three-month conflict have yet to bear fruit, despite repeated claims by Trump and his most senior officials that an agreement is almost negotiated, and that Iran is “desperate” to reach a deal.

Sporadic hostilities have been taking place amid a shaky ceasefire that has been in place since early April, while Iran has closed the strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway through which a fifth of the world’s oil supplies typically travel – and the US has implemented a naval blockade against Iranian vessels.

Polls have consistently shown low public support for the war, amid fear among Republicans that anger over rising fuel costs that it has triggered will cost the party in November’s congressional midterm elections.

Trump has already attacked and punished Republicans who have criticized the war. Thomas Massie, a representative from Kentucky and an opponent of the war, lost a party primary last month to an ally of the president who had been encouraged to run by Trump, who was angered by Massie’s leading role in pressing the justice department to release filed on Jeffrey Epstein.

The vote comes as Capitol Hill Republicans have shown more willingness than previously to defy Trump in recent days.

Republicans in the Senate have forced the president to withdraw a demand for $1bn in security funding for his White House ballroom project, and to abandon a proposed $1.8bn “anti-weaponization fund” that would have seen Trump’s political allies – including offenders convicted of the 6 January, 2021 assault on the US Capitol – awarded compensation at taxpayers’ expense.