Trump Says Tweets Serve as ‘Notification’ to US Congress in Case of War

United States President Donald Trump tweeted Sunday that his tweets will serve as notification to the U.S. Congress in case he decides to strike Iran.

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Thousands Mourn Iranian General as Quds Force Unfurls Red Flag

“These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner. Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!” Trump wrote. 

According to the War Powers Resolution, a U.S. president can send the country’s Armed Forces into action abroad only by declaration of war by Congress, "statutory authorization," or in case of "a national emergency created by attack upon the United States, its territories or possessions, or its armed forces."

The federal law, intended to check the president's power to send country to war without consent, requires the White House to notify Congress within 48 hours of introducing forces into armed conflict or a situation that could lead to war, and forbids them from remaining for more than 60 days, with a further 30-day withdrawal period, without a Congressional authorization for use of military force or a declaration of war by the U.S. 

The debate over Trump’s power to push the U.S. into war comes after the president authorized the assassination of Iran’s Major-General Qassem Soleimani, head of the elite Quds Force, and Iraq’s Militia Commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on Thursday in an airstrike on their convoy in Baghdad airport.

On Saturday, the White House informed it had sent Congress the formal notification under the War Powers Act of the drone strike ordered against Soleimani. 

As tensions continue to rise in the region, following the killing and the deployment of 3,000 U.S. troops, Trump threatened Saturday to target 52 Iranian sites “some at a very high level and important to Iran and the Iranian culture, and those targets, and Iran itself.”

Meanwhile, in Iran hundreds of thousands took to the streets to mourn the killed general on Sunday as the Quds force raised the red flag in Iran over Jamkaran Mosque in Qom.

The red flag that is raised for the first time in Iran, symbolizes two aspects in the Shiite tradition, on the one hand, the blood unjustly shed and, on the other, a call to avenge the death of a murdered person.