US House votes to curb Donald Trump's powers to start Iran war

The US House of Representatives on Friday voted to restrict President Donald Trump’s ability to attack Iran. The Democratic-led House approved an amendment on a broad defence bill that would prohibit funding for military operations against Iran.

Representative Ro Khanna, the Democrat who led the amendment, said the measure showed that the United States was fed up with war. “Frankly, what it will prevent is what this president promised to the American people not to do—to get into another endless, costly war in the Middle East,” he said on the House floor.

Iran on Monday breached a uranium enrichment cap set by a 2015 nuclear deal that the Trump administration abandoned last year.

Earlier, Donald Trump warned Iran that its threats could “come back to bite” after Tehran vowed to exceed the maximum uranium enrichment level allowed by a landmark 2015 nuclear accord. “Iran has just issued a New Warning. Rouhani says that they will Enrich Uranium to ‘any amount we want’ if there is no new Nuclear Deal,” Trump tweeted, referring to Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.

“Be careful with the threats, Iran. They can come back to bite you like nobody has been bitten before!” Iran is acting on its May 8 threat to suspend parts of the agreement in response to Trump’s re imposition of crippling sanctions after withdrawing from it in May last year.

The 2015 deal had been described as a triumph of diplomacy against unilateralism and a major step to counter proliferation.

But after the US withdrew in May 2018 and reimposed stinging sanctions on Iran, especially on its banking and oil sectors, the future of the accord became uncertain.

As the Iranian economy went into free fall, Tehran demanded that the other parties to the deal, especially France, Germany and Britain, deliver the promised economic benefits and help it bypass US sanctions.

However, it gradually became clear that this was no simple task, and Iran—whose economy is heavily dependent on oil sales—changed tack and said it would reshape its policy of “strategic patience”.