House of Representatives adopts resolution to end Iran war

In a blow to the Trump administration, the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a resolution Thursday to halt military action in Iran for the second time, the Associated Press reported. The vote ended 214-208, with the Senate expected to consider a similar resolution later in the day. While it is unlikely that such a resolution would force President Trump to scale back operations in Iran, it sends a clear message to the White House that support for the war from Republican lawmakers was gradually falling away.

Democratic Representative Pramila Jayapal led the resolution on the House floor, stating that the war had "no clear mission, no strategy, no end goal." Washington and Tehran had agreed upon a memorandum of understanding for a peace deal earlier this year, but that has been rendered void as the two sides resumed hostilities earlier this month, leading to the deaths of three American service members, including a 19-year-old.

On Wednesday evening, the members of the House debated the resolution, with Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, a Republican, stating that looking down upon the military effort would not be in good taste to the 18 service members who were martyred. "To belittle this mission is to belittle and demean the very service these members gave their lives for," he 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."

Meanwhile, the top Democrat on the committee, Rep. Gregory Meeks, said that the service members laid down their lives for "an illegal, unauthorized war that the American people don't want." Other House Democrats expressed support for the resolution, urging the Trump administration to end all hostilities. "No more lives lost. No more taxpayer dollars wasted. No more laws broken," Rep. Melanie Stansbury wrote in a post on X.

Republican Representative and avid Trump critic Thomas Massie also supported the resolution and revealed that four GOP lawmakers had broken off to vote against the war with the Democrats. They were Tom Barrett, Warren Davidson, and Brian Fitzpatrick.