At the heart of the political debate in the US is the question of the legality behind Donald Trump’s decision to launch military operations, together with Israel, against Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US president’s critics focus on the fact that the required authorization from Congress was not sought and, above all, was not obtained, as the US Constitution explicitly stipulates for the declaration of war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, the White House appears to be relying on a legislative loophole stemming from the Vietnam era, which offers limited legitimacy but also a strict deadline that expires at the end of April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 60-Day Deadline and the Rules of Engagement<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Under the War Powers Act, enacted after the Vietnam War, the US government reserves the right to use military force for 60 days without requiring prior approval from the legislature. The law sets a strict timeline for undeclared conflicts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n First, the president is required to notify Congress within 48 hours of the start of hostilities, analyzing the justification and the likely duration of the operations. In his own official briefing on Iran, Donald Trump invoked the president\u2019s constitutional authority to manage the country\u2019s foreign relations. The second and most critical stage is the 60 days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within this time frame, Congress must authorize the use of force. Otherwise, the military action must be terminated immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The extension paper and the legal controversy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The expiration of this 60-day period for the Iran front is set for April 29. However, the same legal decree provides for a potential 30-day extension, which the president can activate without authorization. To do so, it is enough to argue that the continuation of the action is necessary for the safe withdrawal of US troops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is estimated that Donald Trump will use this extension as a diplomatic lever to put pressure on Tehran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, there is confusion in legal and political circles in Washington as to the exact expiration date. While some count 60 days from the start of hostilities (April 29), others argue that the timer started when the White House officially informed Congress (May 1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The situation is further complicated by the fact that there are disagreements about whether the recent ceasefire period counts towards this deadline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is worth noting that this legislation has been historically contested. Richard Nixon vetoed its enactment, considering it unconstitutional, while Donald Trump himself has expressed similar objections in the past.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For now, the administration is said to be seeking to reach an agreement before the deadline expires, keeping the diplomatic and military landscape completely fluid.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" At the heart of the political debate in the US is the question of the legality behind Donald Trump’s decision to launch military operations,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28677,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[390,819],"tags":[2240,655,160,70],"class_list":["post-28858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-usa","tag-congress","tag-donald-trump","tag-iran","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28858","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28858"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28858\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28860,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28858\/revisions\/28860"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28677"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28858"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28858"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.liberalglobe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28858"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}