House Speaker Mike Johnson rejected the idea that the United States is at war with Iran despite President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both saying the U.S. is at war.
The speaker delivered his weekly press conference, his first since Trump and Israel launched strikes on Iran over the weekend, and rejected the notion that the House needed to have a vote on the War Powers Act as the U.S. Senate was expected to later Wednesday.
“We’re not at war right now, we’re four days into a very specific, clear mission and operation,” Johnson told reporters. Rather, Johnson maintained that Iran had declared war on the United States — after the U.S. strikes that wiped out their leadership structure.
The claim comes despite the president’s announcement of strikes on Iran alongside Israel. The White House and the Pentagon have dubbed the mission “Operation Epic Fury.”
Johnson also said that the United States is close to having control of the skies over Iran, which he said would lead to the mission concluding soon.
He then repeated Trump’s call for Iranians to lead a revolution to create a new regime. The president has told the Iranian people “When we are finished, take over your government” and that “This will be probably your only chance for generations.”
Despite Johnson’s comments, both Trump and his defense secretary have called the operation a “war.”
“The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties,” Trump said when announcing the operations Saturday morning. “That often happens in war.”
In addition, Hegseth has called the operation a war in his remarks.
“This is not a so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it,” Hegseth said this week.
The House and Senate is expected to vote this week on a War Powers Act resolution for military action in Iran. If passed, the president would be compelled to inform Congress within 48 hours of troops being deployed. In addition, troops would need to be withdrawn between 60 to 90 days if Congress has not formally declared war or authorized the use of military force.
In the House, Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) are leading the charge in the House on the War Powers Act resolution. Massie has been a frequent critic of Trump’s as well as military adventurism.
“I think passage of a War Powers resolution right now would be a terrible, dangerous idea,” he told reporters. “It would empower our enemies, it would kneecap our own forces and it would take the ability of the U.S. military and the commander-in-chief away from completing this critical mission to keep everybody safe.”
Johnson expressed confidence that Republicans would be able to defeat a resolution on the War Powers Act.
“It would put the country in serious harm and it would certainly jeopardize the lives of our troops and all those who were involved in making these great sacrifices to defend this,” he said.
The U.S. Constitution vests the power to declare war with Congress. But in the past century, the presidency has taken on a larger role in controlling the military and overriding Congress.
Johnson said that he believed the American people would reward Republicans.
“I trust that American people will understand that this administration did the right thing, I think they’ll reward it politically,” he said.