Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, came out swinging Sunday against Donald Trump‘s handling of the war in Iran. He said the United States is now in a worse position than before the conflict began and warned that the president appears to be making decisions day by day with no clear strategy.
Speaking to ABC News‘ “This Week” co-anchor Martha Raddatz, Reed was blunt in his assessment. “We’re in, in many respects, a much worse position,” he said. “The regime in Tehran is probably more hostile and fanatical than the one that we replaced … We have not yet resolved the issue of nuclear material in Iran. So this has been a tactical demonstration of prowess, but has not achieved the strategic goal that the president announced, and he seems not to have a plan to achieve those goals.”
The war, which the Trump administration launched on February 28, 2026, without seeking congressional authorization, has now stretched past the 10-week mark. A ceasefire is technically in effect, but peace talks collapsed on April 12 and the two sides remain at a stalemate. The critical Strait of Hormuz is still closed, sending global oil prices sharply higher.
Reed accuses Trump of ‘ignoring the law’ on war powers
The War Powers Resolution requires any president to obtain congressional authorization within 60 days of committing US forces to combat. That deadline passed on May 1. Rather than seeking approval from Congress, the Trump administration argued that the ceasefire paused the legal clock. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made that case directly to lawmakers at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing last week. “We are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire,” Hegseth said.
Trump himself went further on Friday, sending a letter to Congress declaring that “hostilities that began on February 28th, 2026, have terminated,” while also suggesting the War Powers Act is unconstitutional. Reed rejected all of that on Sunday.
“The language of the statutes does not provide for timeouts, like in a football game,” Reed said. “There can be a 30-day extension to 90 days, but that has to be requested by the president. We have to be notified. No such notifications have come through. The president’s ignoring the law.”
While multiple presidents have pushed against the boundaries of the War Powers Resolution over the years, no administration has previously overseen a conflict of this scale without congressional authorization. The Trump White House has also made no visible effort to build support on Capitol Hill for a formal authorization vote.
Democrats push for oversight as new strikes loom
Reed’s Sunday remarks also touched on the possibility of additional military strikes against Iran. He was responding to comments made by fellow Democrat Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, who said Thursday that he believed another strike was likely. “I do have the impression from some of the briefings that I have received, as well as other sources, that an imminent military strike is very much on the table, which is deeply disturbing because it could well involve American sons and daughters in harm’s way and potential massive casualties,” Blumenthal said on CNN Thursday.
Reed said the military was clearly prepared for that option but that he had no confidence in how any such decision would be made. “I don’t believe the President has a plan,” he said. “I think it’s impulsive. It’s day to day. It’s how he feels, and he’s not being given I think the support and the planning that is necessary to make judicious judgments.”
The senator has clashed repeatedly with the administration over the past several weeks. At the April 30 Armed Services Committee hearing, Reed accused Hegseth of overstating the war’s successes. “The problem with your statements, Mr. Secretary, is they are dangerously exaggerated,” Reed said. “Iran’s hardline regime remains in place, it still retains stockpiles of enriched uranium, and its nuclear program remains viable.”
Iran, for its part, has mocked Donald Trump after he backed down from an earlier bombing threat, and Trump has taken aim at media coverage of the conflict, calling CNN losers after reports about Iran strike plans. Meanwhile, the Senate voted 52-47 in mid-April to block a War Powers Resolution that would have constrained Trump’s authority, with most Republicans holding firm against it. Reed, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire have since called for Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Hegseth to testify under oath at public hearings.
