President Donald Trump told congressional leaders on Friday that hostilities with Iran had terminated, even as the 60-day War Powers Act deadline for the campaign arrived and lawmakers questioned whether the administration had stretched the law too far.
Trump sent nearly identical letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson and GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley, writing that there had been no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026 and that the hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 had terminated. The move was the administration's latest bid to argue that the legal clock governing the conflict had already stopped.
The conflict began on Feb. 28, when U.S. forces, alongside Israel, launched large-scale strikes on Iranian targets. In the weeks since, Iran has retaliated and global energy markets have been disrupted, making the president's deadline-day message more than a procedural note. The 1973 War Powers Resolution was written after Vietnam to restrain presidential war-making and to ensure that prolonged military engagements receive congressional approval.
Under that law, a president may start military action without prior authorization, but must notify Congress within 48 hours and end hostilities within 60 days unless lawmakers approve an extension. The 60-day clock was triggered by Trump's notification to lawmakers on March 2, which made Friday the hard deadline unless the administration could persuade Congress that the early-April ceasefire changed the legal count.
That is the administration's position. Trump officials have argued that the ceasefire brokered in early April effectively terminated active hostilities and paused the countdown, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday that the ceasefire stopped the clock. Hegseth said, 'We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,' and, days after the truce was announced, said the military could return to action 'at the push of a button.'
Democrats rejected that reading. Sen. Tim Kaine said, 'I do not believe the statute would support that,' warning that Friday's deadline would 'pose a really important legal question for the administration.' He added, 'We have serious constitutional concerns, and we don't want to layer those with additional statutory concerns.'
The legal fight is sharpened by the administration's conduct after the ceasefire. Despite the truce, it has enforced a naval blockade on Iranian ports, which the article says is considered an act of war, while the U.S. has also threatened to imminently restart strikes. That contradiction sits at the center of the dispute: the White House says the shooting stopped, but it has not fully behaved as though the war did.
The broader political reality may matter as much as the statute. Republican-controlled Congress has been reluctant to assert its constitutional role, and some Republican lawmakers have said they are working on legislation to authorize the use of force against Iran even as others say the administration should begin winding down the campaign. That path would sidestep the War Powers debate and give the White House the formal backing it currently lacks.
For now, Trump has told Congress the hostilities are over. Whether lawmakers accept that account, or decide the blockade and threat of renewed strikes still amount to war, will determine whether the April ceasefire was a pause in the fighting or an attempt to outrun the law.