By Cliff Kincaid

June 18, 2025

You don’t have to be Tucker Carlson to be critical of the Trump Administration’s involvement in the war between Israel and Iran. There is no treaty between the United States and Israel to come to the defense of the Jewish state. Equally significant, there has been no U.S. declaration of war on Iran.  Hence, American involvement is unconstitutional. It is that simple.

Before this matter, President Trump was bombing the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen. That, too, was illegal and unconstitutional.

The critical fact is that the U.S. Congress has the power to declare war but none was declared in the Houthi case. Not even a “war powers resolution” in favor of the bombing was passed.

Article I of the U.S. Constitution and the War Powers Resolution of 1973 requires congressional action. None was given.

Yet Trump is supposed to be the “pro-peace” president and has supposedly abandoned the “neo-con” foreign policy.

Ironically, the Democrats just held “No Kings” rallies around the country, regarding deportations, federal spending cuts, and other measures. But the real concern is whether President Trump can order military cooperation with Israel as it wages war on Iran when there is no authorization from Congress. In short, does Trump have King-like powers to launch a war on his own? Of course not.

The big debate now is whether Trump authorizes “bunker buster” bombs for an Israeli strike on a key nuclear facility. That means direct U.S. involvement in a war, and the U.S. Congress has not authorized it.

Then issue is not whether the U.S. should help destroy Iran’s nuclear weapons capability. The issue is our Constitution.

After the attack on Iran, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us that they believe this action was necessary for its self-defense. President Trump and the Administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear: Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel.”

But Israel’s “unilateral action” could not happen without U.S. support. The U.S. may not be directly involved in “strikes” against Iran in the sense of flying the aircraft and dropping the bombs but the U.S. is helping defend Israel.

If Trump goes to Congress and asks for a declaration or authorization for war, and the Congress agrees, the debate is over.  Until then, responsible conservatives must demand adherence to the U.S. Constitution.

We need a real “No Kings” debate, not the phony dialogue offered by the anti-Trump forces.

Meanwhile, U.S. “intelligence” on the matter of Iran’s acquisition of nuclear weapons is confusing.

Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Tulsi Gabbard, who was appointed by Trump, declared in March, “The IC [Intelligence Community] continues to assess that Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamanei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.”

But Trump says, “I don’t care what she said. They were very close to getting a nuke,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One coming back from the G-7.

So why did Gabbard make such a statement?

Basic questions about the facts are lost in the media coverage of what is happening.

If Gabbard got it wrong, why is she still in the job? Has she been captured by the Deep State?

In the final analysis, however, the Constitution makes it clear that Congress must declare war or authorize military force, and that the President becomes Commander-in-Chief when “called into the service” of the United States by Congress.

Here is the actual language: “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States…”

The 1991 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force (AUMFs) in the Gulf and Iraq wars were repealed in 2023.

There is no Authorization for the Use of Military Force against Iran. Meanwhile, Senator Tim Kaine has introduced a resolution “To direct the removal of United States Armed Forces from hostilities against the Islamic Republic of Iran that have not been authorized by Congress.”

The issue is not Israel or Iran. It is the ability of the American people through Congress to determine American involvement in foreign wars. Our “America First” Constitution must be respected and obeyed.

This is the debate we must have now, regardless of whether you are a Democrat or Republican, Trump supporter or Trump opponent.

Another concern is what might happen if the Iranian regime falls and a civil war ensues. The region is littered with affiliates of al-Qaeda, one of which just took power in Syria. Remember that President Barack Hussein Obama supported al-Qaeda in Libya, leading to the Benghazi massacre, and then he armed the Marxist terrorist PKK/YPG Kurdish forces in Syria fighting Islamic Turkey, a NATO member.

Red Jihad: Moscow’s Final Solution for America and Israel is the book from America’s Survival, Inc. that examines Soviet/Russian strategy in the Middle East. Nothing in the Middle East makes sense unless you analyze how many of the Arab/Muslim states and the Muslim terrorist groups are Marxist in orientation and based on the concept of “liberation” from the West.

Obama’s CIA had set up the YPG, a front of the Communist terrorist PPK, and then integrated that outfit into another front, the so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). This was supposedly an alternative to the pro-Russian Assad regime, which has since been overthrown.

​In the end, Obama’s legacy was up to 500,000 dead in Syria, Libya became a disaster, and Germany under Angela Merkel welcomed a Muslim invasion of Europe.

Going back further in history, consider that President Jimmy Carter abandoned the Shah of Iran, leading to the takeover by the Russian-supported Mullahs now running the country and on the verge of acquiring a nuclear weapon. One major “alternative” to the regime is the MEK, or Mujahideen-e Khalq of Iran, a Marxist-oriented Islamic opposition group run by a Muslim feminist. Some Republicans support this outfit, once officially labeled a terrorist group by the U.S. Government.

Once the U.S. gets more deeply involved in this war, expect a civil war, more Russian involvement, hundreds of thousands of refugees, and no way out for America.

© 2025 Cliff Kincaid – All Rights Reserved

E-Mail Cliff Kincaid: [email protected]

• Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. usasurvival.org