The reaction is increasing after the United States and Israel announced a major military campaign against Iran early Saturday, following weeks of threats from President Trump.
Mr. Trump announce the call, called “Operation Epic Fury,” in a Truth Social video. He called on the Iranian military to lay down their weapons and for the citizens of Iran to rise up and “take over your government.” Mr. Trump told the Washington Post that he wants to protect the freedom and security of the people of Iran.
Congress leaders responded
Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Iran’s nuclear ambitions, missile weapons and support for terrorism “pose a clear and unacceptable threat to US personnel, citizens of the region and many of our allies,” and praised President Trump for “acting to stop these threats.”
“I look forward to administration officials telling all senators about these military operations,” he said. “I commend the bravery of the workers doing this work and I pray for the safety of those in danger.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson said “Iran is facing dire consequences for its evil actions,” and confirmed that the “Gang Task Force,” a group of eight congressional leaders required by law to be briefed on classified intelligence matters, had been briefed “earlier this week that military action may be necessary to protect American troops and American citizens in Iran.”
The Trump administration “has made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime’s continued ambitions and advances, terrorism, and the killing of Americans — even their own people,” Johnson said. “For decades, Iran has maintained its nuclear program while arming and funding Hamas, Hezbollah, and other terrorist organizations known around the world. Iran and its proxies have threatened the lives of Americans and Americans, undermined our core national interests, systematically destabilized the Middle East, and threatened the security of all Western nations.”
House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries said in a statement that Mr. Trump “failed to get the authorization of Congress before striking Iran,” and said that “his decision to abandon diplomacy and a large-scale military attack left the American military at risk of retaliation by Iran.”
“Iran is a bad actor and must be dealt with severely for human rights abuses, nuclear ambitions, support for terrorism and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region,” Jeffries said. “However, given the current circumstances, the Trump administration must seek authorization for the premature use of military force as an act of war.”
Jeffries also said that if Iran’s nuclear program is destroyed by military strikes in June 2025, as Mr. Trump said earlier, “there should be no need to hit them now.”
He said the president “must explain himself to the American people and Congress immediately … clearly define the national security objective and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, protracted military conflict in the Middle East.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer praised what he called “strong, decisive action by President Trump” and said, “We pray that because of this leadership, the US and the world will be a safer place.”
Republican reaction
Sen. Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi and chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the action “an important and necessary operation to protect the American people and American interests” and said that “the Iranian regime has never been weaker.”
Trump supporter Sen. Lindsey Graham said the operation was “well planned” and would be “violent, extensive and I believe, at the end of the day, successful.”
“My mind is racing with the thought that the murderous ayatollah regime in Iran will soon be gone. The biggest change in the Middle East in a thousand years is upon us,” said Graham, a Republican representing South Carolina, on social media. He prayed for anyone involved in the project, saying the effort would make “America safer and ultimately more prosperous.”
Sen. Tom Cotton, Republican of Arkansas and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, shared a list of crimes committed by Iran and said that “the butcher’s bill finally came because of the ayatollahs.”
Rep. Nancy Mace supported the president’s action, writing on social media: “President Trump understood what the weak could not say: that peace is not found in silence – it is won. The Iranian people have fought for their freedom. Their cries did not fall on deaf ears. Not on Trump’s watch.”
Democratic reaction
Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, a Democrat and the vice chairman of the Intelligence Committee, called the military action “a very important decision that risks dragging America into another wider war in the Middle East.”
He criticized the Iranian regime for supporting terrorism and undermining regional stability, but said, “Accepting those facts does not absolve any president of the responsibility to act in accordance with the law, with a clear strategy, and with Congress.”
“The American people have seen this playbook before — claims of urgency, misguided intelligence, and military action that drags the United States into regime change and long-term, costly nation-building. We owe it to our service members, and to the entire American family, to make sure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past,” Warner said. “The president owes the country clear answers: What is the goal? What is the strategy to prevent proliferation? And how does this make the American people safer?”
Rep. Jim Himes, the ranking member of the Intelligence Committee, called the operation “a war of choice with no strategic end.” Himes is a member of the Gang of Eight. He was notified before the operation began, a person familiar with the matter told CBS News.
Himes said he told Secretary of State Marco Rubio during that briefing that “military actions in the region are not likely to end well for the United States, and the conflict with Iran could easily escalate and escalate in unexpected ways.”
“Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have learned the lessons of history,” Himes said.
Sen. Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona and an Iraq War veteran, criticized the operation.
“I lost friends in Iraq because of the illegal war,” Gallego said on social media. “Young working children should not have to pay the full price for regime change and a war that the American people have not defined or approved. We can support the democratic movement and the people of Iran without sending our soldiers to die.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, a frequent critic of Mr Trump, appeared to describe the operation as “acts of war not authorized by Congress” on social media. In June 2025,
Massie introduced a resolution directing the president to “restrain the use of the United States Armed Forces in the war against Iran” without action by Congress. Democrats were planning to force a vote on the war powers resolution introduced by Massie and Rep. Ro Khanna.
Khanna said on Saturday morning that Congress “must meet on Monday” to vote on a resolution to “stop this” and asked members of Congress to share their plans for the weekend vote. Himes said “Mr. Trump’s own statement acknowledges that this is a war.”
“Donald Trump has launched a war on Iran. Congress must reconvene on Monday to vote on Thomas Massie’s resolution and my war resolution to stop this war. Trump says his goal is to overthrow the Iranian regime,” Khanna said in the video. “But the American people are tired of regime change, wars that have cost us billions of dollars and put our lives at risk. We don’t want to fight a country of 90 million people in the Middle East.”
Sen. Tim Kaine also called on the Senate to “immediately return to session” and vote on a bipartisan war power resolution “to prevent the use of US military forces in the war against Iran.”
“Has President Trump learned nothing from the decades of US meddling in Iran and the perpetual wars in the Middle East? Is he too mentally retarded to realize that we have a diplomatic deal with Iran that preserved its nuclear program, and he tore it up during his first term?” he said. “I’ve been raising hell for months about how the American people want lower prices, not war — especially wars that aren’t authorized by Congress, as required by the Constitution, and have no clear purpose.”
