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Bernie Sanders Pushes Bill to Block US Military Action Against Iran as New Poll Shows Public Support for Strikes
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) speaks to the media following a meeting with US President Joe Biden at the White House in Washington, US, July 17, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
US Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) on Monday night introduced legislation that would bar the use of federal funds for any US military force against Iran not authorized by Congress, despite new polling showing broad public support for both Israel’s ongoing strikes against the Iranian regime and US military action that is deemed necessary to stop Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.
The bill, titled the No War Against Iran Act, came after Israel last week launched a broad preemptive attack on Iran, targeting military installations and nuclear sites across the country in what officials described as an effort to neutralize an imminent nuclear threat. The Israeli military since then has continued to pummel Iranian targets, killing several nuclear scientists and military commanders while decimating much of the regime’s nuclear and military infrastructure.
Sanders called Israel’s campaign “reckless and illegal,” claiming it had the potential to kickstart a broader war in the Middle East. The legislation would prohibit the use of federal funds for any military force against Iran without explicit authorization from Congress, with a narrow exception for self-defense under the War Powers Act and applicable US law.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu’s reckless and illegal attacks violate international law and risk igniting a regional war,” Sanders said in a statement. “Congress must make it clear that the United States will not be dragged into Netanyahu’s war of choice.”
Sanders continued, “Another war in the Middle East could cost countless lives, waste trillions more dollars and lead to even more deaths, more conflict, and more displacement. I will do everything that I can as a senator to defend the Constitution and prevent the US from being drawn into another war.”
Sanders was joined by seven Senate Democrats as original cosponsors, including Peter Welch (VT), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Jeff Merkley (OR), Chris Van Hollen (MD), Ed Markey (MA), Tammy Baldwin (WI), and Tina Smith (MN). The senator previously introduced a version of this bill in 2020 alongside then-Sens. Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer.
Amid the Iran-Israel war, speculation has swirled over whether US President Donald Trump, who has expressed public support for the Israeli operation and authorized the military to help the Jewish state with air defense to combat Iranian missile barrages, will decide to use offensive military power against Iran to eliminate their nuclear facilities. Iran’s Fordow nuclear site specifically is built deeply into the side of a mountain, and some experts believe Israel can’t destroy it completely without the help of massive US bunker-buster bombs.
Trump on Tuesday publicly dismissed the prospect of a negotiated ceasefire before posting a message on social media that read “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER!” without elaborating. He also threatened to kill Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Despite Sanders’s insistence that the public disapproves of military action against Iran, polling indicates otherwise.
According to a new poll from GrayHouse Strategies, 89 percent of Americans are “very” or “somewhat” concerned about Iran obtaining nuclear weapons, and 73 percent say Iran cannot be trusted to honor any diplomatic agreement. The poll also found that a strong majority of the American people, 72 percent, support direct US military action “if necessary to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”
Meanwhile, 83 percent of Americans support Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites, 79 percent favor the US sending offensive weapons to aid Israeli operations, and 91 percent support providing intelligence assistance to Israel, according to the poll.
Sanders’s proposed legislation came one day after Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) introduced a War Powers Resolution to block any unauthorized US military action against Iran.
“It is not in our national security interest to get into a war with Iran unless that war is absolutely necessary to defend the United States,” Kaine said in a statement. “The American people have no interest in sending servicemembers to fight another forever war in the Middle East.”
Kaine’s resolution states that Congress possesses the sole authority to declare war against a foreign nation. It requires any US hostilities with Iran to be explicitly authorized by a declaration of war or specific Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF). Because the resolution is privileged, the Senate must consider and vote on it promptly, ensuring a congressional debate on the issue.
“This resolution will ensure that if we decide to place our nation’s men and women in uniform into harm’s way, we will have a debate and vote on it in Congress,” Kaine said.
On Tuesday, however, US Reps. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) and Brad Sherman (D-CA), along with 14 co-sponsors, introduced a bipartisan resolution praising Israel’s strike on Iranian nuclear and military facilities and condemning Iran’s retaliatory missile attacks on Israeli civilian targets.
The post Bernie Sanders Pushes Bill to Block US Military Action Against Iran as New Poll Shows Public Support for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump Eyes Bringing Azerbaijan, Central Asian Nations into Abraham Accords, Sources Say
US President Donald Trump points a finger as he delivers remarks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House in Washington, DC, US, July 31, 2025. Photo: Kent Nishimura via Reuters Connect
President Donald Trump’s administration is actively discussing with Azerbaijan the possibility of bringing that nation and some Central Asian allies into the Abraham Accords, hoping to deepen their existing ties with Israel, according to five sources with knowledge of the matter.
As part of the Abraham Accords, inked in 2020 and 2021 during Trump’s first term in office, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
Azerbaijan and every country in Central Asia, by contrast, already have longstanding relations with Israel, meaning that an expansion of the accords to include them would largely be symbolic, focusing on strengthening ties in areas like trade and military cooperation, said the sources, who requested anonymity to discuss private conversations.
Such an expansion would reflect Trump’s openness to pacts that are less ambitious than his administration’s goal to convince regional heavyweight Saudi Arabia to restore ties with Israel while war rages in Gaza.
The kingdom has repeatedly said it would not recognize Israel without steps towards Israeli recognition of a Palestinian state.
Another key sticking point is Azerbaijan’s conflict with its neighbor Armenia, since the Trump administration considers a peace deal between the two Caucasus nations as a precondition to join the Abraham Accords, three sources said.
While Trump officials have publicly floated several potential entrants into the accords, the talks centered on Azerbaijan are among the most structured and serious, the sources said. Two of the sources argued a deal could be reached within months or even weeks.
Trump’s special envoy for peace missions, Steve Witkoff, traveled to Azerbaijan’s capital, Baku, in March to meet with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev. Aryeh Lightstone, a key Witkoff aide, met Aliyev later in the spring in part to discuss the Abraham Accords, three of the sources said.
As part of the discussions, Azerbaijani officials have contacted officials in Central Asian nations, including in nearby Kazakhstan, to gauge their interest in a broader Abraham Accords expansion, those sources said. It was not clear which other countries in Central Asia – which includes Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan – were contacted.
The State Department, asked for comment, did not discuss specific countries, but said expanding the accords has been one of the key objectives of Trump. “We are working to get more countries to join,” said a US official.
The Azerbaijani government declined to comment.
The White House, the Israeli foreign ministry and the Kazakhstani embassy in Washington did not respond to requests for comment.
Any new accords would not modify the previous Abraham Accords deals signed by Israel.
OBSTACLES REMAIN
The original Abraham Accords – inked between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan – were centered on restoration of ties. The second round of expansion appears to be morphing into a broader mechanism designed to expand US and Israeli soft power.
Wedged between Russia to the north and Iran to the south, Azerbaijan occupies a critical link in trade flows between Central Asia and the West. The Caucasus and Central Asia are also rich in natural resources, including oil and gas, prompting various major powers to compete for influence in the region.
Expanding the accords to nations that already have diplomatic relations with Israel may also be a means of delivering symbolic wins to a president who is known to talk up even relatively small victories.
Two sources described the discussions involving Central Asia as embryonic – but the discussions with Azerbaijan as relatively advanced.
But challenges remain and there is no guarantee a deal will be reached, particularly with slow progress in talks between Armenia and Azerbaijan.
The two countries, which both won independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, have been at loggerheads since the late 1980s when Nagorno-Karabakh – an Azerbaijani region that had a mostly ethnic-Armenian population – broke away from Azerbaijan with support from Armenia.
In 2023, Azerbaijan retook Karabakh, prompting about 100,000 ethnic Armenians to flee to Armenia. Both sides have since said they want to sign a treaty on a formal end to the conflict.
Primarily Christian Armenia and the US have close ties, and the Trump administration is wary of taking action that could upset authorities in Yerevan.
Still, US officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Trump himself, have argued that a peace deal between those two nations is near.
“Armenia and Azerbaijan, we worked magic there,” Trump told reporters earlier in July. “And it’s pretty close.”
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Trump Reaffirms Support for Morocco’s Sovereignty Over Western Sahara
A Polisario fighter sits on a rock at a forward base, on the outskirts of Tifariti, Western Sahara, Sept. 9, 2016. Photo: Reuters / Zohra Bensemra / File.
US President Donald Trump has reaffirmed support for Morocco’s sovereignty over Western Sahara, saying a Moroccan autonomy plan for the territory was the sole solution to the disputed region, state news agency MAP said on Saturday.
The long-frozen conflict pits Morocco, which considers the territory as its own, against the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks an independent state there.
Trump at the end of his first term in office recognized the Moroccan claims to Western Sahara, which has phosphate reserves and rich fishing grounds, as part of a deal under which Morocco agreed to normalize its relations with Israel.
His secretary of state, Marco Rubio, made clear in April that support for Morocco on the issue remained US policy, but these were Trump’s first quoted remarks on the dispute during his second term.
“I also reiterate that the United States recognizes Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara and supports Morocco’s serious, credible and realistic autonomy proposal as the only basis for a just and lasting solution to the dispute,” MAP quoted Trump as saying in a message to Morocco’s King Mohammed VI.
“Together we are advancing shared priorities for peace and security in the region, including by building on the Abraham Accords, combating terrorism and expanding commercial cooperation,” Trump said.
As part of the Abraham Accords signed during Trump’s first term, four Muslim-majority countries agreed to normalize diplomatic relations with Israel after US mediation.
In June this year, Britain became the third permanent member of the U.N. Security Council to back an autonomy plan under Moroccan sovereignty for the territory after the U.S. and France.
Algeria, which has recognized the self-declared Sahrawi Republic, has refused to take part in roundtables convened by the U.N. envoy to Western Sahara and insists on holding a referendum with independence as an option.
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Israel Says Its Missions in UAE Remain Open Despite Reported Security Threats
President Isaac Herzog meets on Dec. 5, 2022, with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Abu Dhabi. Photo: GPO/Amos Ben Gershom
i24 News – Israel’s Foreign Ministry said on Friday that its missions to the United Arab Emirates are open on Friday and representatives continue to operate at the embassy in Abu Dhabi and the consulate in Dubai in cooperation with local authorities.
This includes, the statement underlined, ensuring the protection of Israeli diplomats.
On Thursday, reports appeared in Israeli media that Israel was evacuating most of its diplomatic staff in the UAE after the National Security Council heightened its travel warning for Israelis staying in the Gulf country for fear of an Iranian or Iran-sponsored attacks.
“We are emphasizing this travel warning given our understanding that terrorist organizations (the Iranians, Hamas, Hezbollah and Global Jihad) are increasing their efforts to harm Israel,” the NSC said in a statement.
After signing the Abraham Accords with Israel in 2020, the UAE has been among the closest regional allies of the Jewish state.
Israel is concerned about its citizens and diplomats being targeted in retaliatory attacks following its 12-day war against Iran last month.
Earlier this year, the UAE sentenced three citizens of Uzbekistan to death for last year’s murder of Israeli-Moldovan rabbi Zvi Cohen.