WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders abruptly cancelled a planned vote on a resolution that would have sought to force President Donald Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, delaying a high-profile test of congressional support for the war.
The vote had been expected on Thursday but was pulled from the House schedule after it appeared the measure had enough support to pass. The resolution, sponsored by Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would have directed the president to remove U.S. troops from military operations against Iran unless Congress formally authorised continued action.
Democrats accused Republican leaders of cancelling the vote because they feared a public defeat. Meeks said Democrats had secured enough support, including from some Republicans, to pass the measure. “Let’s be clear: Republicans pulled this vote because they knew they were going to lose it,” he said in a statement.
The episode reflects growing unease in Congress over Trump’s Iran campaign, which began after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran earlier this year and has since expanded into a broader military and maritime confrontation. The administration has argued that the president has authority to act to protect U.S. forces and interests, while critics say the continued conflict requires explicit congressional approval under the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution.
Republican leaders have not presented the cancelled vote as a retreat, arguing instead that the measure was premature and would weaken the president’s hand during a sensitive diplomatic and military moment. The White House has been pressing lawmakers to avoid restrictions while negotiations continue and while U.S. forces remain deployed across the region.
The cancellation came as divisions over Iran widened inside the Republican Party. Some hawkish senators have urged Trump to “finish the job” against Iran’s military capabilities, while more restrained lawmakers have expressed concern about another open-ended Middle East war.
The War Powers Resolution gives Congress a mechanism to challenge military action that has not been formally authorised. Supporters of the Meeks measure said it was intended to reassert Congress’s constitutional role in decisions of war and peace, not to abandon U.S. security interests.
The cancelled vote does not end the debate. Democrats and some Republicans are expected to continue pressing for a floor vote or attach similar restrictions to future defence and spending legislation.
For now, House leaders have avoided an immediate rebuke of Trump’s Iran policy. But the decision to pull the vote suggests that congressional support for the war may be more fragile than Republican leaders had hoped.
