House again passes resolution seeking to halt military action in Iran as some Republicans defect

WASHINGTON — The House on Thursday narrowly passed a resolution to halt U.S. military action in Iran, sending a warning to President Donald Trump for the second time as the war has escalated and the future of the conflict is increasingly uncertain.

The 214-208 vote requiring congressional approval for the war comes as the Senate is expected to consider a similar resolution later Thursday morning. Though the votes forced by Democrats are largely symbolic, they are meant as a strong signal to the Republican president that his support on Capitol Hill is chipping away as the war drags on and lawmakers in both parties have questioned his administration's endgame.

The war has had "no clear mission, no strategy, no end goal," said Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who led the resolution on the House floor.

The resolution narrowly passed after a handful of Republicans voted with Democrats to end the war. But the vast majority of Republicans — including all four of Utah's representatives — voted to back the war and cede congressional war powers to Trump.

Trump has insisted that continued U.S. attacks against Iran do not mean a return to war or long-term action.

Continued American airstrikes are occurring even as diplomatic efforts show little public sign of progress and officials on both sides have dug in on the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed. The unpopular war threatens further worldwide economic disruption and is sending fuel prices up ahead of midterm elections this fall.

As the House debated the resolution Wednesday evening, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, R-Fla., read out names of 18 service members killed since the war began.

"To belittle this mission is to belittle and demean the very service these members gave their life for," Mast said. "Their sacrifice was not meaningless. This operation is bringing reckoning for the hundreds of times Iran has attacked and killed people of the United States of America."

The top Democrat on the panel, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, said that presidents are supposed to make the case to Congress.

The service members who died made the ultimate sacrifice for "an illegal unauthorized war that the American people don't want," Meeks said.

As both chambers vote on whether to weigh in, the U.S. has carried out waves of airstrikes in recent days as the two countries clash over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices have spiked again, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told senators at a hearing Tuesday that the U.S. had spent $37.5 billion on the war so far. On Wednesday, Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base for the arrival and dignified transfer of the remains of four U.S. service members.

"I do think the combination of the hearings, plus the fact that we are in this new escalatory phase where Americans have been killed, and Americans are experiencing the rising costs — I think it's important that people be held accountable," said Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who is leading the Senate effort on Thursday. "And this is a very unpopular war."

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