GOP patience with Iran operation growing thinner as Trump escalates tensions

Some Republican lawmakers are growing wary about the military conflict in Iran, which has entered its sixth week and could escalate further after President Trump urged Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face “all Hell.”

The Iran operation is unfolding at a politically precarious moment for Republicans, as the midterm election season ramps up and segments of the MAGA base grow increasingly restless over a perceived drift away from the “America First” agenda. While Trump initially projected the operation would only last for four to five weeks, he has since escalated tensions — most notably by threatening strikes on Iran’s infrastructure over the weekend — and hasn’t ruled out U.S. boots on the ground, moves that risk a longer, more entangled conflict.

GOP lawmakers were almost in lockstep behind Trump when he launched the strikes in February, but some now say they want Congress to step in and assert its authority if the conflict extends beyond 60 days.

“Constitutional limits are in place to temper the president from unilateral authority. I support the president’s actions taken in defense of American lives and interests. However, I will not support ongoing military action beyond a 60-day window without congressional approval,” Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wrote in an op-ed for Deseret News on April 1, adding that the War Powers Resolution of 1973 limits the president’s period of time to respond to “emerging threats.”

A 60-day period is “a fully sufficient window for presidents to take emergency measures in response to a national threat and then remit a decision to the duly elected representatives of the people as to whether a state of war should in fact be declared and continued,” Curtis wrote.

Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.) told The Hill on Monday that he’d consider a vote on a war powers resolution if the conflict extends past 60 days.

“I do think Iran has been a threat for 47 years, and they’ve killed roughly a thousand Americans. But I’d consider the resolution,” he said.

He added that he hopes the conflict is short but that the “enemy has a vote.”

“If the regime wants to wage war, then it will go longer. I hope the regime decides for quick peace. We’ve delivered outstanding results in a month. We all prefer a quick ending,” he said.

Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who’s running for reelection in a competitive district, told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday that Congress “will have to take necessary action” if the conflict “goes beyond the 60-day window.”

He added, “And I would support that.”

Trump on Monday doubled down on his weekend threat to go after Iranian infrastructure, warning that all of Iran “could be taken out in one night” if the country’s leaders don’t make a deal by 8 p.m. Tuesday to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes.

“We’re giving them until tomorrow at 8 o’clock. And after that, they’re going to have no bridges, no power plants,” Trump told reporters at a White House news conference, saying again that Iran would be sent back to the “Stone Ages.”

The Iranian government wrote on social platform X earlier Monday that it rejected a “15-point” peace proposal from the U.S., calling it “unrealistic” and adding that it refuses “any negotiations conducted under the shadow of illegal sanctions, military threats, or coercion.”

Iran had sent over a 10-point response to end the war, Axios reported. But Trump told reporters on Monday that while Iran’s proposal was “significant,” it still wasn’t “good enough.”

A number of Republicans are still standing behind Trump in the conflict.

“I know the president is really frustrated, and we do want to see the straits opened. It’s not just good for the United States, but it’s good for Europe and so many other countries,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told reporters Monday.

Still, a majority of Americans aren’t happy with the ongoing operation. In a CNN poll released last week before Trump gave an address on the conflict, 66 percent of respondents said they either “somewhat disapprove” or “strongly disapprove” of “the U.S. decision to take military action in Iran.”

The frustrations over the conflict have been mounting across the GOP conference. Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said last month that she wouldn’t back an Iran supplemental funding package, with the Pentagon floating a $200 billion price tag.

“I’ve already told leadership, ‘I am a no on any war supplementals,’” Boebert told CNN’s Manu Raju. “I am so tired of spending money elsewhere. I am tired of the industrial war complex getting all of our hard-earned tax dollars. I have folks in Colorado who can’t afford to live.”

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) has previously said on X that she “will not support troops on the ground in Iran.” And House Armed Services Committee Chair Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) criticized the Trump administration last month for not providing enough answers about the operation during a briefing.

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) brought a war powers resolution on Iran to the House floor less than a week after Trump joined Israeli leaders in launching massive strikes against Iran in late February. It failed by a vote of 212-219, with four Democrats bucking their party to oppose it: Reps. Greg Landsman (Ohio), Jared Golden (Maine), Henry Cuellar (Texas) and Juan Vargas (Calif.).

House Democratic leaders are aiming to bring another war powers resolution to the floor after lawmakers return from a two-week spring recess — and this time, some centrists appear to be shifting in their support. Landsman, Cuellar and Vargas are all poised to back the measure.

It is unclear how many Republicans will back the measure if it comes to the floor. Massie is expected to be a yes, but it remains uncertain whether Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), who supported the war powers resolution previously, will do so again.

Mace told CNN earlier this month that she was “concerned about escalation” in the operation against Iran.

“If there’s going to be conventional troops on the ground, a mainland invasion, for example — this is a different phase of the war or conflict that we would be entering into, and Congress needs to be briefed,” she said. “Congress needs to have a say.”

She added, “I’m concerned about loss of life and casualties and casualty projections, potentially, for ground troops, et cetera. And Congress should be briefed on that before any action is taken.”

Senate Republicans had also blocked a war powers resolution last month, with Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) being the only member of his party to break ranks and support it.

Tara Suter contributed.

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