The U.S. Senate passed a resolution Tuesday directing the president to withdraw troops from the conflict with Iran, delivering a serious rebuke to Donald Trump and a strong message that the war lacks support from Congress.
The bill passed the House of Representatives earlier this month. However, since this is a so-called concurrent resolution, it does not require the president’s signature and, by definition, has no legal effect.
President Trump called the Senate’s vote to limit Iran’s war powers “untimely and pointless” and criticized members of his party who voted in favor of the resolution.
Here’s what you need to know:
Diplomatic moves: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is visiting the Gulf region “to ensure their views are taken into account” as the US advances negotiations with Iran, he said upon arriving in the United Arab Emirates yesterday. He continues to try to separate Israel-Lebanon negotiations from U.S.-Iran negotiations, despite Tehran’s repeated claims that the issues are intertwined. Israel-Lebanon talks: Israel and Lebanon are holding a fifth round of talks in Washington, D.C., in a bid to end the deadly conflict between Israeli forces and Iranian-backed Hezbollah forces. Israel’s ambassador to the United States opened yesterday’s talks by saying that Israel and Lebanon were “heading toward a train wreck” and that “Iran’s role is to stay out of Lebanon.” Lebanese President Joseph Aoun said Beirut “will accept nothing short of an end to the Israeli occupation” in the country’s south. Iranian missile victory: President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iranian missiles are not and will not be included in the deal with the United States. President Trump had previously argued that limiting Iran’s missile program was a central rationale for U.S. military operations, but changed his tune during diplomatic negotiations. Evacuation from the Gulf: The United Nations Maritime Organization is launching an evacuation plan for more than 11,000 seafarers stranded in the region. Clearing the backlog of ships and stranded personnel will be carried out in coordination with Iran, Oman, other coastal states, the United States, and the maritime industry. Nuclear Inspections: President Trump reiterated that Iran has consented to further UN nuclear inspections and rejected Iran’s claims that no visits by International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are scheduled. The IAEA inspected an operating nuclear facility in Iran in early June, about a year after the IAEA entered a nuclear facility damaged in the last war between the United States, Israel, and Iran. Ceasefire violation: Hezbollah accused Israel of a “blatant violation” of the US-Iranian 14-point ceasefire plan after Lebanon’s Health Ministry announced on Tuesday that two people were killed in Israeli attacks.
CNN’s Morgan Rimmer, Mary Kay Maroney, Dana Karni, Oren Lieberman, Mohamed Tawfiq, Eyad Kurdi, Charbel Malo, Katherine Nichols, Sarah Tamimi, Tal Shareef and Charlotte Reck contributed reporting.
