US House rejects bid to curb Trump's war powers on Iran

The US House of Representatives has rejected an effort to curb President Donald Trump's ability to wage war in Iran, a day after a similar bid collapsed in the Senate.

The war powers resolution - rejected ina 219-212vote along party lines - was largely ceremonial and was unlikely to survive an expected veto from the president.

Democrats have criticised Trump for launching strikes without congressional approval and questioned whether the US faced the kind of "imminent" threat that would legally allow him to take military action on his own.

The administration now says the war could last eight weeks - almost double the duration mentioned by Trump at the weekend.

If passed, the resolution would have stopped US military action in Iran without congressional approval.

Democrats in both chambers of Congress have argued that Trump was ignoring congressional input and not being clear about the reasons for war.

Some Republicans in the House and Senate said they blocked the resolution for now but could change course if the war expanded.

Earlier this week, House Speaker Mike Johnson pushed against the resolution.

"The idea that we would take the ability of our commander in chief, the president, take his authority away right now to finish this job, is a frightening prospect to me," Johnson told reporters.

While the president has broad authority to launch military action without a formal declaration of war, Congress must be notified within 48 hours of hostilities beginning.

Speaker Johnson said the Trump administration had notified the "Gang of 8" - a bipartisan group of the top eight congressional leaders - ahead of the strikes.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has maintained the Trump administration complied with that requirement.

On Tuesday, Trump submitted a resolution to Congress, telling lawmakers that the threat from Iran had been "untenable" despite efforts to find a diplomatic solution.

Trump has previously ordered military operations without congressional approval, such as the US strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities last year, and the seizing of Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro in January.

"To begin with, no presidential administration has ever accepted the War Powers Act as constitutional – not Republican presidents, not Democratic presidents," Rubio, a former senator, said.