President Donald Trump believes he has the right to initiate military action against Iran without approval from Congress, a statement made hours after he signed an executive order imposing “hard-hitting” sanctions on Tehran.
“I do,” Trump said during an interview with Hill.TV when asked about military action.
“But we’ve been keeping Congress abreast of what we’re doing...and I think it’s something they appreciate. I do like keeping them abreast, but I don’t have to do it legally.”
Trump’s sanctions follow Iran’s downing of a more than $100 million U.S. surveillance drone that has ratcheted up tensions. Trump, though, pulled back on retaliatory strikes on Iran last week, but is continuing his pressure campaign.
"We were pretty close to maybe making a decision to strike, then I decided not to do it.,” Trump told the Hill. “Nobody went out by the way. I was going to make that decision by a certain time and I decided not to do it because it wasn’t really proportional.”
Trump in his interview retorted House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s assertion that he would need congressional approval for any hostilities against Iran.
“I disagree, most people seem to disagree,” he said.
"They have ideas, they’re intelligent people, they come up with some thoughts," Trump said, referring to lawmakers. "I actually learned a couple of things the other day when we had our meeting with Congress."
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