US House votes to end Iran war, 7 Republicans join in favour

For a third time, the US House approved a war powers resolution, halting Trump’s ability to continue military action.

A US military honour guard carries the casket of the late US Senator Lindsey Graham at the conclusion of a congressional tribute to Graham at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on July 28, 2026 [AFP]

For a third time, the US House has voted to end the war in Iran, approving a war powers resolution that would halt President Donald Trump’s ability to continue military action without congressional approval.

The roll call late Tuesday, 220-204, was similar to earlier efforts this summer, with a few more Republicans joining all Democrats voting to bring an end to the conflict.

Seven House Republicans backed the resolution, including three voting in favour for the first time.

Iowa congressman Zach Nunn, a Republican, explained his vote saying that “with the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization.”

“I will not support another open-ended war,” Nunn said.

None of the resolutions has made it to the president’s desk, where Trump would almost certainly veto the measure.

Republican Representative Brian Mast of Florida, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, questioned which military resources Democrats would want to remove from the region where he said Iran remains a threat.

Mast said Trump is against “forever wars, and that is what he is ending” – the decades of hostilities from Iran.

“They are a continuous ongoing threat to the United States,” Mast said. “Enough is enough.”

The run-up to the midterms

The action is likely to be the last House vote on the Iran war ahead of the midterm elections, where the conflict overseas is playing a substantial role in the political campaigns. The war that Trump launched on February 28 has dragged on, with on-again, off-again deadly missile strikes being exchanged and causing havoc in the region for nearly seven months.

Lawmakers are heading home at the end of the week to campaign nearly full-time, with fewer than 50 days to go before the elections that will determine control of Congress as Democrats try to wrest power from Republicans.

The US war on Iran is worsening inflation and straining the country’s munitions stockpiles, a report from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has found.

The report, released on Tuesday, found that the cost of the six-month war has reached $38bn and is expected to rise by $3bn per month. The war is projected to increase inflation by 0.5 percentage points in the first three months of 2027.

Trump himself had promised not to involve the US in foreign wars when he won a second term in the White House, and his actions against Iran are weighing on the Republican Party that controls the House and Senate.

Most Americans say the war in Iran has not been worth fighting, according to an AP-NORC poll in July.

Previous war resolutions

Congress has tried repeatedly to alter the trajectory of the war against Iran, but efforts to limit the Trump administration’s military action remain a long shot so long as the president can fend off or veto the measures.

The House first approved a war powers resolution in June, and followed up with another one in July, both seeking to halt US action in Iran. The Senate on its 10th try also approved a war powers resolution to end the conflict, but Republican senators quickly reversed course the next day after Trump berated them during a closed-door lunch.

While the Constitution gives Congress the authority to declare war, it also gives the president authority as the commander-in-chief to engage in some military actions. The War Powers Act, created after the Vietnam conflict, sought to impose a more specific time limit on the president’s power, requiring congressional approval for sustained military actions after 60 or 90 days.

美国众议院第三次通过了战争权力决议，阻止了特朗普继续采取军事行动的能力。

2026年7月28日，在华盛顿特区的美国国会大厦，美国军事仪仗队抬着已故美国参议员林赛·格雷厄姆的灵柩，结束了国会对格雷厄姆的悼念仪式。[法新社]

美国众议院第三次投票决定结束伊朗战争，批准了一项战争权力决议，该决议将阻止唐纳德·特朗普总统在未经国会批准的情况下继续采取军事行动。

周二晚些时候的点名表决结果为 220 比 204，与今年夏天早些时候的努力类似，一些共和党人加入了所有民主党人的行列，投票结束了这场冲突。

七名众议院共和党议员支持该决议，其中三人是首次投赞成票。

爱荷华州共和党众议员扎克·纳恩解释了他的投票理由：“谈判窗口已经关闭，持续的作战行动现在需要国会授权。”

“我不会支持另一场无休止的战争，”纳恩说。

这些决议案均未送达总统办公桌，而特朗普几乎肯定会否决这些决议案。

佛罗里达州共和党众议员、众议院外交事务委员会主席布莱恩·马斯特质疑，民主党人究竟想从伊朗仍然构成威胁的地区撤走哪些军事资源。

马斯特表示，特朗普反对“无休止的战争，而他正在结束的正是这种战争”——伊朗长达数十年的敌对行动。

“他们对美国构成持续不断的威胁，”马斯特说。“够了！”

中期选举前的准备工作

此次投票很可能是中期选举前众议院就伊朗战争问题进行的最后一次表决，而这场海外冲突在本次选举的政治角逐中扮演着举足轻重的角色。特朗普于2月28日发动的这场战争已经持续了近七个月，双方断断续续地进行着致命的导弹袭击，给该地区造成了巨大的破坏。

议员们将在本周末返回家乡，投入几乎全职的竞选活动。距离决定国会控制权的选举还有不到 50 天，民主党人正试图从共和党人手中夺取权力。

无党派的国会预算办公室 (CBO) 的一份报告发现，美国对伊朗的战争加剧了通货膨胀，并使该国的军火储备捉襟见肘。

周二发布的这份报告显示，这场持续六个月的战争已耗资380亿美元，预计每月还将增加30亿美元。报告预测，这场战争将使2027年前三个月的通货膨胀率上升0.5个百分点。

特朗普本人在赢得连任时曾承诺不会让美国卷入外国战争，但他对伊朗采取的行动正在给控制众议院和参议院的共和党带来压力。

根据美联社-NORC公共事务研究中心7月份的一项民意调查，大多数美国人认为伊朗战争不值得打。

以往的战争决议

国会曾多次试图改变对伊朗战争的走向，但只要总统能够抵制或否决这些措施，限制特朗普政府军事行动的努力就仍然希望渺茫。

众议院于6月首次通过了一项战争权力决议，7月又通过了另一项决议，这两项决议都旨在阻止美国在伊朗的军事行动。参议院在第十次尝试后也通过了一项旨在结束冲突的战争权力决议，但第二天，在特朗普于一次闭门午餐会上严厉斥责共和党参议员后，共和党参议员迅速改变了立场。

虽然宪法赋予国会宣战的权力，但也赋予总统作为三军统帅的权力，使其可以采取某些军事行动。越战后制定的《战争权力法》旨在对总统的权力设定更具体的时限，规定持续60天或90天的军事行动必须获得国会批准。