House speaker Mike Johnson insists U.S. 'not at war' with Iran as deadline for Congress approval looms
Ceasefire means Congress is not required to authorise the Trump administration's military action in Iran on Friday, officials claim
House speaker Mike Johnson has insisted the United States is "not at war" with Iran as the White House edges towards a 60-day deadline to withdraw troops.
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“I don’t think we have an active, kinetic military bombing, firing or anything like that. Right now, we are trying to broker a peace,” Johnson said.
“I would be very reluctant to get in front of the administration in the midst of these very sensitive negotiations, so we’ll have to see how that plays out.”
The Republican congressman made the comments to NBC News as the military action in Iran approaches the 60-day mark.
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The 1973 War Powers Resolution says the president must remove troops from conflict within 60 days unless Congress authorises a war.
Asked about the 60-day deadline, which falls on Friday, Johnson said: “We are not at war," because of the ceasefire implemented in early April.
He said the US was "policing the strait of Hormuz and trying to get a peace. The president and the administration are moving as aggressively as possible.
"There’s nothing Congress can do to move that along any further, so we’ll see how it plays out. That is my position.”
The legislation does offer the president the option to apply for a 30-day extension, however it's not clear what Trump plans to do.
NBC reported that administration officials are having "active conversations" about how to handle the 60-day rule.
On Thursday the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth suggested the administration believes for the purposes of the legislation the ceasefire had "paused" the 60-day clock.
He told the Senate: "I would defer to the White House and White House counsel on that. However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which, our understanding, means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire."
Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., who had pressed Hegseth on the limit, said: "I do not believe the statute would support that."
A spokeswoman for the White House Anna Kelly said in a statement: “President Trump has been transparent with [Capitol] Hill since before Operation Epic Fury began, and administration officials provided over 30 bipartisan briefings for Members of Congress to keep them apprised of military updates. The President’s preference is always diplomacy, and Iran wants to make a deal.”
The President referred to the military action in Iran as a war as recently as Thursday, when he told American news website Newsmax: “The stock market just now hit a new high during the war, or the military operation, whatever you’d like to call it."
On Wednesday one of the defence secretary's top officials testified that the war in Iran had cost the US $25 billionn (£18.5bn) so far, adding that the Trump administration plans to ask Congress to grant additional funding for the operations.