President Donald Trump told Congress on Friday that he doesn’t need its authorization for military operations in Iran because of the ceasefire, even though the conflict hit the 60-day mark this week.
“On April 7, 2026, I ordered a two-week ceasefire,” Trump wrote in letters to Congress, one of which went to the House and the other to the Senate. “The ceasefire has since been extended. There has been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026. The hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated.”
“Despite the success of United States operations against the Iranian regime and continued efforts to secure a lasting peace, the threat posed by Iran to the United States and our Armed Forces remains significant,” the president added, promising to keep congressional leaders updated on further developments in Iran.
Congressional leaders this week faced mounting questions about whether they planned to schedule votes on a formal war authorization from Congress.
The 1973 War Powers Resolution directs the president to seek authorization for war from Congress after an ongoing military conflict hits the 60-day mark. The law allows for a president to seek a 30-day extension if necessary to safely remove troops from a region, but Trump did not mention that in his letter.
“I have and will continue to direct United States Armed Forces consistent with my responsibilities and pursuant to my constitutional authority to conduct United States foreign relations and as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive,” the president wrote.
U.S. military strikes on Iran officially began on Feb. 28, but the Trump administration notified Congress of the conflict on March 2, starting the 60-day clock then.
A temporary ceasefire went into effect on April 8 to give the U.S. and Iran room to negotiate an end to the war and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, but talks have not produced results.
Iran has blocked traffic in the strait. The U.S. has a naval blockade of Iranian ports and is using more than 100 fighter and surveillance aircraft, two carrier strike groups and more than a dozen ships to enforce the blockade. A Navy destroyer fired on and hit an Iranian-flagged cargo ship that attempted to move through the blockade.
Michael Glennon, a professor of constitutional and international law at the Fletcher School at Tufts University, told NBC News that Trump’s argument for not needing congressional authorization “is a stretch” and that he does not believe “that the administration is correct in arguing that the clock has stopped.”
“The hostilities are continuing as a consequence of the administration’s enforcement of the blockade,” said Glennon, who served as a legal consultant to the State Department during the George W. Bush administration and legal counsel to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in the 1970s, when he handled matters like the War Powers Resolution.
“That’s not a ceasefire. It’s not a suspension of hostilities,” Glennon added. “If the ceasefire were a genuine and comprehensive ceasefire that involved a cessation of hostilities, which to say if the war ended, of course the clock would stop. But the war has not ended.”
Stephen Pomper, chief of policy at the International Crisis Group who served as senior director for multilateral affairs and human rights at the National Security Council during the Obama administration, also cited the naval blockade in an interview with NBC News.
“That is a hostile act,” he said. “It’s an act of war. It’s an act that puts U.S. troops at risk.”
“So, if this isn’t a situation that’s covered by the definition of hostilities, what is?” he added.
In a statement Friday, Reps. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Adam Smith, D-Wash., ranking member of the House Armed Services Committee, and Jim Himes, D-Conn., ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, argued that the ceasefire does not stop the clock for the War Powers Resolution.
“Hostilities have not ceased; both sides are enforcing naval blockades through military force,” the lawmakers wrote. “From Day One, this has been an unauthorized war of choice based on a demonstrably false premise of an imminent Iranian threat and as of today, 60 days in, there is still no congressional authorization for President Trump’s war.”
As Trump departed the White House on Friday heading to Florida, he told reporters that he wasn’t seeking authorization from Congress “because it’s never been sought before.”
“There’s been numerous, many, many times, and nobody’s ever gotten it before. They consider it totally unconstitutional, but we’re always in touch with Congress, but nobody’s ever sought it before. Nobody’s ever asked for it before. It’s never been used before. Why should we be different?” he said in response to NBC News.
In the past, other presidents have also argued that they don’t need congressional authorization for certain military engagements.
In 2011, then-President Barack Obama argued against seeking congressional approval for a military operation in Libya, with his administration saying, “U.S. operations do not involve sustained fighting or active exchanges of fire with hostile forces, nor do they involve U.S. ground troops.”
But Presidents George W. Bush in 2001 and 2002 and George H.W. Bush in 1991 did seek congressional authorization for military conflicts in the Middle East, and in those cases, lawmakers approved their requests.
Congress last year repealed the 2002 and 1991 authorizations for use of military force as part of the Pentagon’s annual spending package.
Matt Waxman, a Columbia Law School professor who served in senior positions at the State Department, Pentagon and National Security Council during the George W. Bush administration, told NBC News via email that while a ceasefire could be taken into account regarding the War Powers Resolution, it would be difficult to make that argument here.
“Given the way the act is written, I think there’s room to argue that a ceasefire could reset the clock, but the facts make that claim hard to defend in this case,” Waxman wrote.
“American forces are still enforcing a blockade militarily, and the administration continually emphasizes that it has amassed a huge force in the Gulf that’s imminently ready to destroy Iran. So, the administration is trying to have it both ways,” he added.
On Thursday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., argued that Congress wouldn’t have to formally weigh in on the military conflict with Iran, telling NBC News, “we’re not at war.”
Johnson made a similar point to Trump’s, saying, “I don’t think we have an active, kinetic military bombing, firing or anything like that. Right now, we are trying to broker a peace.”
Later Thursday, in a hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also dismissed the 60-day threshold, telling lawmakers, “I would defer to the White House and White House counsel on that. However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which, our understanding, means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire.”
