The U.S House of Representatives has, for the second time, passed a resolution to halt U.S. military action in Iran.

The resolution requiring congressional approval for the war sends a warning to President Donald Trump for the second time as the war has escalated and the future of the conflict is increasingly uncertain.

The 214-208 vote comes as the Senate is expected to consider a similar resolution later today. Though the votes forced by Democrats are largely symbolic, they are meant as a strong signal to the U.S President that his support on Capitol Hill is chipping away as the war drags on and lawmakers in both parties have questioned his administration’s endgame.

Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, a Democrat who led the resolution on the House floor, asserted that the war has had “no clear mission, no strategy, no end goal.”

As the House debated the resolution, Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Brian Mast, read out names of 18 service members killed since the war began.

“To belittle this mission is to belittle and demean the very service these members gave their life for. 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.”
Brian Mast

The top Democrat on the panel, New York Rep. Gregory Meeks, said that Presidents are supposed to make the case to Congress, adding that the service members who died made the ultimate sacrifice for “an illegal unauthorized war that the American people don’t want.”

The resolution narrowly passed after a handful of Republicans voted with Democrats to end the war. However, the vast majority of Republicans voted to back the war and cede congressional war powers to Trump.

Republicans on both sides of the Capitol know that voting against the war can have a political cost, even as many of them have privately questioned the Trump administration’s handling of the conflict. However, Trump has insisted that continued U.S. attacks against Iran do not mean a return to war or long-term action.

After the first House vote to halt the war in early June, he posted on social media that it was “unpatriotic” and “meaningless.” In his post after the June House vote, Trump called the four Republicans who voted with Democrats “GRANDSTANDERS!” and said they should be “ashamed of themselves.” “They would rather have our Country fail than give me another, of many, victories,” he said.

When the Senate passed a war powers resolution on Iran for the first time in June, the US President attended a Republican party Senate luncheon the next day and called the Republicans who voted for it “losers.”

Continued American airstrikes are occurring even as diplomatic efforts show little public sign of progress and officials on both sides have dug in on the dispute over the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial waterway for global energy that remains largely closed. The unpopular war threatens further worldwide economic disruption and is sending fuel prices up ahead of midterm U.S. elections this fall.

The U.S. has carried out waves of airstrikes in recent days as the two countries clash over control of the Strait of Hormuz. Gas prices have spiked again, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Senators at a hearing on Tuesday that the U.S. had spent $37.5 billion on the war so far. Yesterday, Trump traveled to Dover Air Force Base for the arrival and dignified transfer of the remains of four U.S. service members.

Unpopular War

According to recent polling, most Americans disapprove of the way Trump is handling the situation with Iran. A Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted in July found that few Americans think the war in Iran has been worth fighting, and most aren’t confident that the U.S. military action in Iran and negotiations to end the war will prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Only about two-thirds of Republicans approve of Trump’s handling of the situation in Iran, according to the poll. Most Republicans, about 6 in 10, think the war has been worth fighting and are confident that the military action and ensuing negotiations will prevent Iran from development nuclear weapons, but a sizable share, about one-third, are unconvinced.

Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat who is leading the Senate effort later today, said, “I do think the combination of the hearings, plus the fact that we are in this new escalatory phase where Americans have been killed, and Americans are experiencing the rising costs — I think it’s important that people be held accountable.” “And this is a very unpopular war,” the Senator added.