A total of 51 U.S. senators came out in support of the revised version of a war powers resolution brought to the table by Sen. Tim Kaine on Tuesday, with two Republican senators joining the call for limiting U.S. President Donald Trump's authority regarding Iran.
According to NBC News, with Republican senators Todd Young and Susan Collins joining the Democrats in placing limits on Trump's Iran authority, there are enough votes for the resolution to pass. The only thing needed is the official vote itself.
If officially passed into law, Kaine's resolution will reiterate that only Washington's Legislative Branch has the power to declare war "or commit our armed forces to a sustained military conflict with Iran," as explained by Collins.
Still, the resolution will force Trump to commit to Congress if he wants to pursue the use of American militia should there be a full-blown war against Iran. If the resolution passes, the president will only be allowed to use his authority if there is an imminent attack on the country.
Despite increasing optimism among the Democrats regarding putting a cap on Trump's war authorities, there was no timeframe given regarding when Senate will come together for a vote since the impeachment articles have to go first.
Some political experts noted that Young and Collins' decision to join the Democratic Party's call for a Trump war cap may be taken a signal that Republicans are increasingly getting disappointed with the American chief's handling of Iran.
The issue has just gotten more intense as Tehran called out the White House on Tuesday for its alleged role in the missile accident that killed all 176 passengers on board the Ukrainian Boeing 737-800 jet last week.
President Hassan Rouhani was quoted by Iran's state-owned news agency Tasnim as saying that the U.S. "caused such an incident to take place," CBS News reported. Rouhani was further quoted to have said that Washington's drawing of first blood stirred Iran and thus caused the mistake of shooting down the passenger jet.
Rouhani referred to the airstrike ordered by Trump early in January that resulted in the death of top Iranian military chief Qasem Soleimani. Tehran vowed revenge and made it happen by launching missiles on two Iraqi bases where American troops were deployed.
The Iranian government also announced on Tuesday that a number of people have been arrested for their supposed role in the Ukrainian jet's downing. Of those dead, 147 were Iranians and Rouhani has since vowed that those responsible for the tragedy will pay, CNN reported.
There has been an apparent unrest in Iran ever since the government admitted to mistakenly shooting down the plane. There were also Canadians, Swedes, Afghans, Ukrainians, and Britons who were killed in the crash.
