Alabama’s Congressional delegation seemed to split along party lines over the Trump administration’s decision to strike three Iranian nuclear sites Saturday.
The military action followed eight days of conflict between Israel and Iran initiated by Israeli airstrikes against Iranian military bases, senior military officials, and nuclear enrichment sites on June 13.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told journalists the attack had been ordered in November but delayed from an initial April date. He claimed Iran was capable of using its nuclear facilities to create a nuclear bomb and that this posed an imminent threat to Israel.
However, in March, U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that “the [intelligence community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” She was testifying under oath.
Senator Chris Murphy, D-Connecticut, shared on Sunday that he was “briefed on the intelligence last week” and “Iran was not close to building a deliverable nuclear weapon.” Iran had also been engaged in talks over a second nuclear deal with the United States for months before June 13.
Shortly after the initial strikes by Israel, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a statement saying “Israel took unilateral action against Iran” and that the United States was “not involved.”
But following a week of the White House issuing murky statements about the conflict, Trump approved strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. In a televised address, the president said the “objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity.”
Both of Alabama’s senators, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, quickly posted short statements expressing their support for the president’s actions.
“God bless our Troops. God bless President Trump. And may God continue to bless the United States of America,” Tuberville wrote.
Britt similarly said she stood by President Trump and asked people to “please pray for peace.”
Four Republican members of the House from Alabama issued statements praising Trump’s decision to strike Iran as well. Congressman Mike Rogers has not spoken on Saturday’s attack, but released a statement praising Israel on June 13.
Democratic Congresswoman Terri Sewell though issued a public statement calling the strike illegal, unconstitutional and asking for “steps to prevent further escalation of this conflict.”
“The Constitution is clear. Only Congress has the power to declare war,” Sewell wrote. “President Trump’s unilateral military action in Iran, without congressional approval, is unconstitutional.”
The U.S. Constitution grants Congress, not the president, the ability to declare war.
Accordingly, the War Powers Resolution of 1973 limits the president’s ability to “introduce [the military] into hostilities” to three cases: an official declaration of war by Congress, other specific statutory authorization, and a national emergency created by an attack upon the United States. None appear to apply in the case of Iran.
The law also allows Congress to demand the removal of the armed forces from territory outside the United States’ border with a concurrent resolution. Resolutions to this effect have been introduced in both the House and the Senate, but have not been cosponsored by any members of Congress from Alabama yet.
Congressman Shomari Figures’ office did not respond to APR’s request for comment before publication.
