House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump to bring the Iran war to a close, a contrast to the president’s rejection that same day that the midterm elections would not affect his war strategy.
During a press conference, Johnson was asked if he plans to use congressional powers to check Trump’s military action in Iran, to which the House leader explained he doesn’t think an authorization for use of military force is needed but that the conflict needs resolution.
“The administration is working very hard, the commander in chief and the whole Department of War — they’re working very hard to bring this to a resolution,” Johnson said. “There’s a lot of discussion about how that will be done. We’re all closely watching those developments, of course. I don’t think an AUMF is in order right now. I think we need to bring it to a resolution.”
Johnson went on to emphasize the importance of working with international partners, including the Gulf countries Iran has threatened, to handle the issue as it is not America’s problem alone.
“It is a very important objective, one that I believe we’ve achieved, to ensure that the largest state sponsor of terrorism does not have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “That would be a disaster for everybody, and everybody around the world understands that. Now we’ve got to wrap it up.”
Johnson’s urgency to end the conflict, which has closed the Strait of Hormuz, causing gas and oil prices to skyrocket for Americans, contradicts remarks made earlier in the day by Trump when fielding questions after a meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun. The wildly unpopular war has been a headache for Johnson, whose party holds a narrow majority heading into the 2026 elections.
The president was asked if he believes Iran’s closure of the strait is an attempt to affect the midterm elections, but Trump said the action holds no bearing on his decisions in Iran.
“They won’t have any impact on me,” Trump said. “I’m just going to do the right thing. I don’t view it as ‘Gee, we’re having an election in a period of time.’ You know, everyone says, ‘Oh, I’m doing something before.’ No, the election — I can’t think about that having to do with this. I think people are very impressed.”
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) has been less definitive than Johnson and Trump about his stance on the Iran war, only emphasizing the importance of opening the critical oil shipping lane immediately.
“That to me is the key consideration in all this,” Thune said of the strait on Monday. “What the president is insisting on is the strait be open. The Iranians are violating international law by having blockades there.”
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
