President Donald Trump is set to meet with top advisers in the White House Situation Room Thursday morning in the wake of reports that he has privately approved plans for a U.S. attack on Iran, a development that comes after days of pressure from Israeli officials and Republican war hawks in Congress to intervene in the war that Israel launched last week.
The Wall Street Journalreported late Wednesday that Trump told senior aides that he "approved of attack plans for Iran, but was holding off on giving the final order to see if Tehran will abandon its nuclear program."
"While Trump weighed his decision, the U.S. military continued to move forces to Europe and toward the Middle East, including tanker planes to refuel aircraft in flight, warships capable of shooting down ballistic missiles, an aircraft carrier battle group, and advanced F-22 air-to-air fighters, which flew Wednesday to a base in Britain," the Journal observed.
CBS News also reported that Trump "approved attack plans on Iran Tuesday night."
Trump's belligerent rhetoric and demand for "unconditional surrender" ahead of a possible U.S. attack have drawn sharp rebukes from Iranian officials, who said Wednesday that the country "does NOT negotiate under duress, shall NOT accept peace under duress, and certainly NOT with a has-been warmonger clinging to relevance."
The U.S. possesses 30,000-pound bunker-buster bombs within striking distance of Iran, and Israel claims it needs such explosives to hit Iran's heavily entrenched Fordow nuclear site.
"We are the only ones who have the capability to do it, but that doesn't mean I am going to do it," Trump told reporters Wednesday.
With a final decision from the president expected at any moment, anti-war members of Congress are moving with urgency to build support for legislative efforts to avert an unauthorized U.S. attack on Iran.
Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), who is co-leading a House war powers resolution with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), has called on Democrats to unify against U.S. involvement in Israel's war.
"This is now defining for the Democratic Party," Khanna toldHuffPost on Wednesday. "Are we going to criticize the offensive weapons for Netanyahu and the blank check? Are we going to stand up with clarity against the strikes on Iran? Are we going to actually be the party of peace, or are we going to be just another party of war?"
Just 37 members of Congress, according to one tally, have backed anti-war resolutions currently before the House and Senate, even as new polling shows that a majority of the American public opposes U.S. military action in Iran.
"Right now, the most effective thing you can do is flood Congress with calls to show that the American people don't want to go to war with Iran," the advocacy group Demand Progress wrote Wednesday, urging Americans to call 1-833-STOP-WAR to connect with their representatives and push them to support war powers resolutions.
The two top Democrats in Congress—Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)—have been mostly quiet this week about the Trump administration's march to war, and Schumer has declined to back legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) that would bar the president from using federal funds for an unauthorized attack on Iran.
But Schumer was among the top Democratic senators who signed a joint statement Wednesday declaring that "we will not rubberstamp military intervention that puts the United States at risk."
"Intensifying military actions between Israel and Iran represent a dangerous escalation that risks igniting a broader regional war," reads the statement. "As President Trump reportedly considers expanding U.S. engagement in the war, we are deeply concerned about a lack of preparation, strategy, and clearly defined objectives, and the enormous risk to Americans and civilians in the region."
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) unveiled a war powers resolution earlier this week in the Republican-controlled Senate, but he must wait 10 days before he can force a vote on the measure.
"The Constitution gives Congress the power to declare war," Kaine wrote in a social media post on Wednesday. "That's why I filed a resolution to require a debate and vote in Congress before we send our nation's men and women in uniform into harm's way."
Senators are set to receive a classified briefing on Iran from the Trump administration next week—but the president could order a military strike before then.
Politicoreported Wednesday that "Trump, who criticized his predecessor for allowing new wars to break out on his watch, is increasingly listening to a small group of Iran hawks who have been pushing to go tougher on Tehran."
"Trump has become more receptive to arguments by those advocating more military engagement, including Gen. Michael 'Erik' Kurilla, who leads Central Command, as well as Republican senators Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Tom Cotton of Arkansas," the outlet noted.
