Iran: Where Is the Congress?

The predicament in which President Trump finds himself over the war with Iran certainly puts in sharp relief one of his errors. It was not an inadequate response to Iran’s aggression. It was in his failure to go to Congress for, if not a war declaration, at least an authorization to use military force. That failure set the stage for a burst of criticism from a range of figures as particulars of the agreement with the Iranians are being made public.We’re not here to add to the president’s burdens. We are here, though, to warn of the problem of pursuing a war — or a peace — without a backing from Congress. The problem goes back two generations to when President George H.W. Bush was bedeviled over whether to seek a declaration against Iraq. We were in the camp that reckoned that the Constitution doesn’t require the president to go to Congress but that it was the right move politically.Bush did go to Congress and won, meaning he got an authorization to use military force. It was a nickel-plated declaration compared to, say, our declaration against Japan in respect of World War II. Bush used it, though, and triumphed in Iraq. What a contrast with, say, President Obama, whose deal with Iran was opposed overwhelmingly in both houses of Congress. So Mr. Obama, shockingly, turned to the United Nations.There Mr. Obama had his envoy actually vote against his own Congress. So bad was the deal Mr. Obama struck that in 2016 Americans elected, in Mr. Trump, the one candidate who could be relied on to pull out of the deal with the ayatollahs, which Mr. Trump did in May 2018. His critics can be forgiven for their difficulty in imagining that Mr. Trump would turn around and ink an agreement that is weaker than Mr. Obama’s.One feature of the current deal, our Benny Avni reports, has to do with Mr. Trump’s fears of a global economic downturn as a result of oil traders’ panic related to the Islamic Republic’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz. A thrice-signed Memorandum of Understanding between Iran and America says that the Tehran regime “will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels with no charge for 60 days.”What then? Tehran officials say they would work it out with their Gulf ally, the sultanate of Oman. One idea, as Mr. Avni reports: the two countries would charge “insurance”-related fees. Nice oil tanker you got there, we don’t want anything bad to happen to it. Meanwhile the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps is threatening that following Hormuz, another waterway, the Red Sea, might be blocked by their allied Yemeni terrorists, the Houthis.Mr. Trump dismisses the danger of Iran’s ballistic missiles, which were lobbed during the war at American Mideast bases, and indiscriminately at America’s Gulf allies and Israel. If the Saudis and Qataris have ballistic missiles, the president said Wednesday, “it’s a little bit unfair for [Iran] not to have some.” Huh? He belittles Israel’s right of defense from Iran’s Lebanese proxy and suggests that Syria could handle Hezbollah better than Israel. As Washington criticizes Israel’s conduct in Lebanon, unidentified White House officials whisper to reporters that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushed Mr. Trump to wage war, promising a Venezuela-like quick regime change. Yet from Vietnam to Iraq, America has failed to follow through on wars the Yanks initially set out to win. Lack of resolve is more responsible for foreign policy disasters than waging justified wars. The Iran memorandum promises that once a deal is finalized, it “will be endorsed by a binding United Nations Security Council resolution.” Forgive us but we prefer an endorsement of the American people. Which is why we keep marking the importance of the role of Congress. If Mr. Trump wins there, he’s in a stronger position. If he loses in Congress, he would have tried and there would be scores of naysayers on the Hill to share the blame.

Iran: Where Is the Congress?

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