The president appeared to confirm fears that he’s improvising when it comes to his military campaign in Iran.

On Monday, the president’s lack of a plan in Iran was outlined in stark terms in a letter to Congress obtained by CBS News officially informing lawmakers of the strikes.

“Although the United States desires a quick and enduring peace, it is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that may be necessary,” Trump said in the letter.

U.S. forces “remain postured to take further action… to address further threats and attacks upon the United States or its allies and partners,” he continued.

The letter was sent under the War Powers Act, a 1973 resolution requiring the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of deploying U.S. forces if Congress has not declared war. The deployment cannot last more than 60 days without congressional approval.

  • Hawke@lemmy.world
    441·
    6 hours ago

    This was a months- or weeks-long preparation. It’s been known for a while that the US was moving aircraft carriers towards Iran. This absolutely did not happen overnight.

    The BBC from 2026-02-20

    • UnspecificGravity@piefed.socialEnglish
      48·
      6 hours ago

      Its not unusual for US air assets and carriers to be in this region in general. You might want to look at the preparations for the invasion of Iraq if you want to know what an actual preparation for a war looks like.

      • Hawke@lemmy.world
        211·
        6 hours ago

        Right, and the massing of troops on the Ukrainian border by Russia was not a prelude to that invasion either. /s

        This was in no way a bolt from the blue. People knew this was coming.

          • Hawke@lemmy.world
            102·
            6 hours ago

            But January 29th was over a month ago, and you can bet that this plan started before the news noticed and reported on it.

            • UnspecificGravity@piefed.socialEnglish
              118·
              6 hours ago

              Its OK that you said a stupid thing and then pretended you didn’t by changing the definition of what “stupid” is.

                • UnspecificGravity@piefed.socialEnglish
                  39·
                  5 hours ago

                  Because my argument is that this was not a well prepared war with adequate assets put into place in the region which would take months to do, much like was the case with the 2003 Iraq war. And their counter-argument to that was “look, someone dispatched a carrier to the middle east 33 days ago!”

                  You tell me if you think that is stupid or not.

                  • wholookshere@piefed.blahaj.zoneEnglish
                    52·
                    5 hours ago

                    Okay, but can you see how that’s not actually what you said?

                    You just called it stupid.

                    But with hindsight, do you think that carrier deployment unrelated?

                    Because if it is, then some planning went into it.