U.S.
Reactions from congressional leaders to US strikes on Iran split across party lines
Stars and Stripes
February 28, 2026
The United States Capitol dome, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025 in Washington. (Eric Kayne/Stars and Stripes)
Congressional leaders split mostly across party lines in reaction to President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel in launching a major attack on Iran on Saturday.
Republicans expressed broad support. Democrats were mostly critical, saying the strikes happened without congressional authorization.; some planned to push for a war powers vote in the House during the week ahead.
“Today, our commander-in-chief took decisive action against the threat posed by the world’s leading proliferator of terrorism, the Iranian regime,” Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in a statement. “This is a pivotal and necessary operation to protect Americans and American interests.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota applauded the president.
“Despite the dogged efforts of the president and his administration, the Iranian regime has refused the diplomatic off-ramps that would peacefully resolve these national security concerns,” he said in a statement. “I commend President Trump for taking action to thwart these threats.”
Democrats criticized the president for not being transparent enough on goals and, most specifically, the endgame.
“The administration has not provided Congress and the American people with critical details about the scope and immediacy of the threat,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “Confronting Iran’s malign regional activities, nuclear ambitions and harsh oppression of the Iranian people demands American strength, resolve, regional coordination and strategic clarity. Unfortunately, President Trump’s fitful cycles of lashing out and risking wider conflict are not a viable strategy.”
Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, praised the U.S. troops carrying out the operations, and he said he prayed for their safety. But he condemned the attack.
“Against the clear wishes of the American people, President Trump has thrust our nation into a major war with Iran — one he never made a case for, never sought congressional authority for, and for which he has no endgame,” Reed said in a statement.
The targets of the strikes included members of Iran’s leadership, according to an Associated Press report. Iran counterattacked against U.S. bases and others hosting U.S. troops in the region, including at the headquarters of the US Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
Witnesses heard sirens and explosions in Kuwait, home to U.S. Army Central. Explosions could also be heard in Qatar, where Al Udeid Air Base hosts thousands of service members.
“There have been no reports of U.S. casualties or combat-related injuries,” U.S. Central Command said in a statement, which added that its forces successfully defended against hundreds of missile and drone attacks.
Not all Republicans stood with the president.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a frequent critic of interventionist foreign policy, immediately expressed his opposition.
“This is not ‘America First,’ “ he said in a statement on X. Massie said that when Congress reconvenes, he would work with Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., to force a congressional vote on war with Iran.
Congress was notified before the strikes, as required by law, according to an Associated Press report.
The notifications mentioned ballistic missiles but didn’t indicate that the strikes would be so expansive or the goals so broad, the AP said.
Contributing: The Associated Press