CT Lawmakers Warn Iran Strikes Without Congressional Approval Could Lead To Ground War

HARTFORD, CT — Nearly a week into what Connecticut’s congressional delegation calls the most significant American military action in the Middle East since the Iraq War, the state’s U.S. senators and a House member accused President Donald Trump of waging an illegal war without congressional authorization and warned the conflict could escalate into a ground invasion, costing thousands of American lives and trillions of dollars.

Six Americans have been killed. More than 1,000 people are dead across the region. Gas prices have risen about 26 cents since the conflict began. Natural gas is up 40 percent. And somewhere in the Middle East, a member of Connecticut’s 143rd National Guard texted U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-CT, with a question no one in Washington has yet answered: “What is the vision of success?”

U.S. Sens. Chris Murphy, D-CT, and Blumenthal, along with U.S. Rep. John Larson, D-CT, said the Trump administration launched airstrikes against Iran without the congressional authorization required under the Constitution and without a plan for what comes next.

“We are almost a week into the most significant military action the United States has taken in the Middle East since the Iraq War,” Murphy said. “It is an illegal war that the president is required by the Constitution to come to Congress for authorization.”

No vote on a declaration of war or formal military authorization has taken place.

Murphy said he is working with colleagues, including Sen. Tim Kaine, to use Senate procedural rules to halt other legislative business until the chamber debates a war powers resolution.

“We shouldn’t be proceeding to other legislation in the Senate until we have a debate on a war powers resolution,” Murphy said.

The senators questioned whether the administration’s military strategy can achieve its stated objectives. Iran’s nuclear infrastructure is largely buried underground, Murphy said, making it resistant to air campaigns. Even if airstrikes damage those facilities, they cannot eliminate the knowledge needed to rebuild them.

“You cannot bomb out of existence knowledge,” Murphy said. “Iran knows how to run a nuclear program. You can continue to destroy their reactors, but they’re going to rebuild them.”

Murphy said there is little history of air campaigns alone toppling regimes.

“There is no history that an air campaign by itself can lead to the toppling of a despotic regime,” he said.

If the administration’s goal is regime change — a conclusion both senators said is supported by Trump’s public statements — airstrikes alone will not be enough. The alternative, Murphy warned, is a land war.

“A US ground invasion of Iran will result in thousands of Americans dying and trillions of our dollars being wasted,” Murphy said.

Blumenthal pointed to comments Trump has made about wanting a role in selecting Iran’s next leader as evidence that regime change is already the goal.

“That’s nation building. That’s regime change,” Blumenthal said. “It can’t be done at 30,000 feet.”

Blumenthal said the administration also failed to prepare for the broader consequences of military action. Despite deploying roughly half of the U.S. naval fleet to the region before the strikes began, he said the administration made no arrangements to evacuate American civilians.

“Americans are stranded and trapped abroad right now because this administration failed to plan evacuation for them,” Blumenthal said.

Blumenthal also raised questions about a bombing that reportedly killed children at an elementary school. He did not assign blame but said Congress has a responsibility to investigate and called on the Armed Services Committee to examine the strike.

The senators warned the conflict could deepen economic instability.

“Prices are going to rise not just for gasoline, but in all the commodities and goods and services that depend on fuel,” Blumenthal said.

The senators also said higher oil prices would provide a financial windfall for Russia, which they noted is already providing intelligence support to Iran. They warned that increased energy revenues could help fund Russia’s war in Ukraine, and Blumenthal said the United States should do more to assist Ukraine.

“We’re strengthening Russia by depleting our own resources and raising the price of oil and gas, which enriches Russia and further fuels its war machine,” he said. “Vladimir Putin is toasting with champagne to our folly.”

Murphy also challenged the administration’s claim that Iran posed an imminent nuclear threat, arguing the danger was overstated and that Trump bears responsibility for the current situation.

The Obama-era nuclear agreement with Iran kept the country roughly one year away from developing a nuclear weapon, Murphy said. Trump withdrew from that deal.

Blumenthal called claims that Iran was within days of nuclear capability “absurd” and “ridiculous,” saying there was no imminent threat from Iranian nuclear weapons, ballistic missiles, Hezbollah or Hamas when the strikes began.

“The crisis that he is trying to address is one that he largely precipitated,” Murphy said.

Murphy also cautioned that killing Iran’s supreme leader could have the opposite effect, potentially strengthening the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and producing a more hostile successor government.

Iranian Americans he has spoken with, Murphy said, share that concern.

Larson framed the dispute as a constitutional issue, noting that even President George W. Bush sought congressional authorization before invading Iraq.

“The president came before Congress because that’s the rule of law,” Larson said. “We take an oath to the Constitution. It is incumbent on us to demand that the president come before Congress and explain why this war is necessary. Accountability,” he added, “often comes through elections and Congress’s control over military funding, including future votes on war appropriations the administration will eventually need.”

“The people of this country do not want another war in the Middle East,” Murphy said. “They watched the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan.”