The U.S. House of Representatives for the first time on Wednesday backed a Democratic-led resolution aiming to stop the Iran war until hostilities are authorized by Congress, reflecting growing congressional concern, even among President Donald Trump’s Republicans, over the war.
The House voted 215 to 208, as four Republicans sided with Democrats in favour of the war powers resolution. It was the latest setback for Trump in Congress despite his party’s slim majority in both chambers.
The vote was largely symbolic, as any resolution would also have to pass the Senate to become effective. And it must garner a two-thirds majority in both chambers to overcome an almost certain Trump veto.
However, Wednesday’s vote came after three previous war powers resolutions had failed in the House by increasingly slim margins. The Senate advanced a separate but similar resolution last month in a procedural vote, after seven previous attempts had failed.
While a ceasefire in the conflict was declared in April, it remains uneasy and uncertain. Talks for a more durable end to the fighting have dragged on, increasingly complicated by Israel’s broadening war with Iran-backed Hezbollah militants in Lebanon.
An Iranian drone strike at Kuwait International Airport killed one person and wounded more than 60 others. The strike was part of a wave of attacks on U.S. allies in the Persian Gulf after U.S. strikes on a key island in the Strait of Hormuz.
Military strikes flare Wednesday
Meanwhile, military strikes between the U.S. and Iran continue to flare.
Flights at Kuwait International Airport were temporarily suspended on Wednesday after an Iranian drone and missile attack damaged airport facilities and diplomatic missions, killing one person and injuring more than 60 others, Kuwaiti authorities and state media said.
Kuwait Airways and Jazeera Airways later resumed flights after taking safety measures, the civil aviation authority said.
Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards said they did not fire at Kuwait’s airport and blamed the destruction on U.S. interceptor missiles that failed to hit their targets, according to Iranian state media.
The U.S. military said that was not accurate, and that Iranian drones targeted the airport deliberately.
The latest strike marked an escalation for the oil-rich Gulf country, which had seen relative calm since a ceasefire in the Iran war was announced on April 8..
Iran had frequently launched missiles and drones at Kuwait — an American ally — as well as at other Gulf states in the wake of the U.S.-Israel attack on Iran on Feb. 28.
Bahrain’s army said it had intercepted three missiles and several drones as Iran said it had attacked the headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in the country, as well as an airbase and helicopters in another, unspecified, regional state.
Iran’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said in a statement that it reserved the right to self-defence, saying Kuwait and Bahrain bore “direct and clear responsibility” for the attacks, alleging their territory and facilities had been used to support U.S. military operations against Iran.
The U.S. military said two Iranian missiles aimed at Kuwait fell short or broke up in flight, while several ballistic missiles failed to strike their targets in the region.
In further signs of escalation, the U.S. military said it had downed drones targeting civilian ships in regional waters and U.S. forces in Kuwait, and had carried out strikes on Qeshm Island near the Strait of Hormuz after attempted attacks by Iran.
Iranian media said the Revolutionary Guards’ navy targeted a vessel with missiles in response to what it said was a U.S. attack on an Iranian tanker near Hormuz.
“Disrupting the security of the Strait of Hormuz will carry a heavy price for the U.S. military,” media cited the Guards as saying.
Promises of imminent deal not yet met
The ceasefire has not led to a breakthrough in a permanent end to the fighting.
Iranian media said Tehran has not communicated with Washington for several days, but Trump said negotiations had not stopped, even claiming in a new podcast interview with the New York Post that aired Wednesday that Iran’s Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei is involved in negotiations.
Hours later, Trump suggested there could be progress in negotiations with Iran as soon as this weekend.
“If it happens, it could happen over the weekend,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, without elaborating on what he expected to happen within that time frame.
Since mid-March, Trump has repeatedly said he is close to a deal to end the fighting and allow negotiators to tackle thorny issues, including the future of Iran’s nuclear program.
Trump has said his top priority is to stop Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Iran denies it is developing a nuclear bomb and says its atomic program is for peaceful purposes.
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is testifying to two committees in Washington on Tuesday. It’s the first time he’s been questioned on Capitol Hill since the U.S.-Israel war with Iran began.
Israel and Lebanon renew ceasefire
The war in Iran also triggered the latest round of conflict between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, with Israel pursuing its deepest incursion into Lebanon in 25 years.
On Wednesday, Israel and Lebanon agreed to renew their fragile ceasefire and create a number of “pilot” security zones inside Lebanon from which Hezbollah militants would be banned.
In a joint statement released after a fourth round of U.S.-mediated talks at the State Department in Washington, the two sides said the ceasefire “is contingent on a complete cessation of Hezbollah fire and the evacuation of all Hezbollah operatives” from areas south of the Litani River.
“All countries reaffirmed that the future of the relationship between Israel and Lebanon must be decided by the two sovereign governments. They rejected any attempt, by any state or non-state actor, to hold Lebanon’s future hostage,” the statement said.
The latter is a reference to Iran, which supports Hezbollah and has insisted that Israeli attacks on Lebanon be halted as part of a tentative agreement with the U.S. to end the conflict with Iran.
Hezbollah is not part of the Israel-Lebanon talks.
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