This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a proposal that would limit President Donald Trump’s ability to take military action against Iran.
The measure, which would require Trump to first receive Congressional approval before launching strikes against Iran, passed on July 12 in the Democratic-controlled lower house by a vote of 251-170.
More than two dozen Republicans joined Democrats in adding the proposal to a House defense-spending bill that would cut $17 billion off Trump’s record-setting $750 billion defense-budget request.
The House and the other chamber of U.S. Congress, the Republican-controlled Senate, must now haggle over whether the restriction on Trump’s ability to launch strikes against Iran will be included in the final defense bill.
Trump reportedly approved military strikes against Iran in late June in retaliation for Iran’s shooting down of an unmanned U.S. surveillance drone, before calling the strikes off at the last minute.
The United States claimed the drone was shot down in international airspace near the Strait of Hormuz, while Tehran claimed the drone was downed in Iranian airspace.
In June, the Senate rejected a similar proposal to limit Trump’s ability to launch strikes against Iran.
