The House on Wednesday passed a War Powers Resolution that would direct President Trump to end his war with Iran as the US continues to enforce a blockade on Iranian ports and trade attacks with the Iranian military despite a nominal ceasefire.

The bill passed in a vote of 215 to 208, with four Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (KY), Warren Davidson (OH), Tom Barrett (MI), and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) — joining Democrats in support of the effort to end the war, which Trump launched without congressional authorization, in violation of the Constitution.

The bill now heads to the Senate, where it has a chance to pass since a similar Iran War Powers resolution advanced in the chamber last month. The bill now goes to the Senate, where it has a chance of passing since a similar resolution was advanced last month. The resolution is a concurrent resolution, meaning the president cannot veto it.

Israeli military Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir made the IDF position very clear during a visit to a Haifa base today, declaring that “there is no ceasefire for our forces.”

Lt. Gen. Zamir said that rather than seeking a ceasefire, Israel’s goal was to “maximize the freedom of action” they have in Lebanon, which since Israel attacks dozens of targets on a daily basis, suggests things are going as intended for them.

Reports on the ongoing US-hosted talks are that Israel is making clear irrespective of anything else, they neither intend to agree to a permanent ceasefire with Lebanon nor will they withdraw their ground troops from southern Lebanon.

Amid growing skepticism among Americans about the US-Israel relationship, Netanyahu has suggested that the US could eventually end its military aid to Israel and transition the relationship to a more partnership-based model that would further intertwine the US and Israeli militaries, making the special relationship even harder to unravel.

Stutzman’s bill praises Netanyahu for coming up with the idea and calls for the US and Israel to form a new Memorandum of Understanding to “replace traditional military assistance with a framework of joint defense codevelopment, coproduction, and mutual investment that will strengthen both nations’ defense industries and military readiness.”

“You’re fucking crazy. You’d be in prison if it weren’t for me. I’m saving your ass. Everybody hates you now. Everybody hates Israel because of this.”

According to Axios, this is what Donald Trump said to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in “an expletive-laden call” earlier today.

Trump also accused Netanyahu of ingratitude since Trump had helped keep Netanyahu out of jail. At the heart of the matter was Trump’s frustration with Netanyahu not caving to his demands to cease bombing Lebanon, as Israel’s aggression risked jeopardizing Trump’s diplomacy with Iran.

The story has understandably been met with considerable skepticism. After all, there is a long and well-documented pattern of American presidents privately expressing anger and frustration with Israeli prime ministers while publicly standing shoulder-to-shoulder with them and continuing to support their policies.

Iran also said that its attacks came after the US bombed a telecommunications antenna, and Iranian media reported blasts on Iran’s Qeshm Island. “Following the US attack on a telecommunications antenna and an Iranian oil tanker, we targeted the United States Fifth Fleet and a US air base in the region,” the Iranian Armed Forces said in a statement, according to Iran’s IRIB broadcaster.

US Central Command had announced the strike on the tanker hours earlier and later put out a statement on the Iranian attacks, claiming the drones and missiles Iran launched were defeated. CENTCOM also confirmed that it bombed Qeshm Island, framing the attack as “self-defense” despite engaging in a blockade against Iran, a continuation of the war of aggression the US and Israel launched on February 28.

“Iran launched several ballistic missiles toward regional neighbors; however, all failed to hit their intended targets. Two Iranian missiles fired at Kuwait fell short or broke apart enroute, and three missiles launched at Bahrain were immediately intercepted by US and Bahrain air defense forces,” CENTCOM said.

All categories of Americans who were polled would oppose a draft: Republicans, Democrats, and independents; women and men; people of draft age and people too old to be drafted; and people of all races.

The wording of the poll reflected the confused nature of most recent reporting about U.S. planning and preparation for a draft. There was no mention of the impending shift from self-registration to automatic registration of young men for a future draft.

Respondents to the poll were asked, “If President Trump implemented a military draft, would you support or oppose it?”, which implies (incorrectly) that the President could activate a draft without authorization from Congress.

Dave DeCamp

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akeaton@antiwar.com

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