The US House of Representatives will vote this week on a resolution to curtail Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a letter sent to Democratic members of Congress.
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The resolution “reasserts Congress’s long-established responsibility by mandating that if no further Congressional action is taken, the Administration’s military hostilities with regard to Iran cease within 30 days,” Pelosi wrote in her letter.
The letter comes as Trump Administration is stationing additional troops to the Middle East following the US airstrike that killed Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. As Pelosi said, “the Trump Administration conducted a provocative and disproportionate military airstrike targeting high-level Iranian military officials. This action endangered our service members, diplomats and others by risking a serious escalation of tensions with Iran.”
The United States eliminated Major General Qassem Soleimani, the head of the elite Quds force who spearheaded Iran’s military influence in the Middle East. The US labelled Soleimani as terrorists who also authorized the siege of the US embassy in Baghdad.
After the attack, Iran’s Supreme National Security Council vowed: “severe revenge” on those involved in the killing of Soleimani, blaming the US for the attack. In a telephone call with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif slammed the attack as an act of terrorism by the US.
Donald Trump vowed to hit Iranian military targets if Tehran “strikes any Americans or American assets.” “We have … targeted 52 Iranian sites (representing the 52 American hostages taken by Iran many years ago), some at a very high level & important to Iran & the Iranian culture” and “if Iran strikes any Americans or American assets… Iran itself WILL BE HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD,” Trump wrote in a series of tweets.
