The Trump administration did not ask Congress to authorize the Iran war before launching joint strikes with Israel on Feb. 28. Friday marks the 60-day deadline, after which the War Powers Act requires approval from lawmakers for hostilities to continue.
Hegseth declined to say whether the administration would seek lawmakers’ consent, deferring to the White House.
In a statement, the White House said the administration was in “active conversations with the Hill” regarding the 60-day deadline and warned against lawmakers trying “to score political points by usurping the Commander-in-Chief’s authority.”
Sen. Roger Wicker (Mississippi) the Armed Services Committee’s Republican chairman, told reporters after the hearing he has “not been too concerned” about the 60-day deadline and declined to say whether the Trump administration should seek approval from Congress.
The hearing, occurring as peace talks between Washington and Tehran remain stalled, followed Hegseth’s combative appearance Wednesday in the House, where he sparred with Democrats whom he labeled “the biggest adversary we face at this point” because of their scrutiny of the Iran war. Hegseth repeated the attack in his opening remarks Thursday, saying that “defeatists from the cheap seats” — in both parties — were undermining the war after only two months….
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Hezbollah’s Latest Challenge to Israeli Forces: A Stealthier Drone…
Israeli forces in southern Lebanon and northern Israel are contending with a new threat from Hezbollah militants: exploding drones designed to evade electronic jamming.
Hezbollah has been attacking with the deadly drones in recent weeks, and Israel is still trying to figure out how to defend against them, according to several Israeli military officials and a Western official. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the issue publicly.
The drones are controlled not by radio signals but by thin, almost invisible fiber-optic cables. They have long been in use in the war in Ukraine.
Largely immune to the kind of jamming of communications and global positioning systems that Israel employs against regular drones, the fiber-optic ones can also fly low and fast. That makes them harder to detect and destroy, experts say.
The Israeli military was inadequately prepared to defend against this new tactic, though not surprised by it, according to an Israeli official and a former Israeli security official.
For now, Israel is improvising, according to Eyal Hulata, a former national security adviser to the Israeli government…
ISW...Iran Update Special Report, April 30, 2026
- Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei declared on April 30 that Iran will retain control over shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and maintain its nuclear and missile capabilities, which supports ISW-CTP’s assessment that the Iranian regime is unlikely to make meaningful concessions in its next proposal to the United States.
- Some Iranian officials who have advocated for a “pragmatist” approach toward negotiations may be aligning themselves behind Vahidi’s redlines, which Mojtaba publicly endorsed in his April 30 statement. Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi has reportedly been acting in “full coordination” with Vahidi and following Vahidi’s “instructions” over the past two weeks, according to two informed sources speaking to anti-regime media on April 30. This report suggests that Araghchi may have aligned himself with Vahidi’s position on negotiations.
- Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and President Masoud Pezeshkian are reportedly dissatisfied with Araghchi’s close cooperation with Vahidi and approach toward negotiations, even though they have publicly signaled their acquiescence to Vahidi’s hardline approach.
- Iran is trying to sow divisions between the Gulf states and the United States as part of a longstanding Iranian effort to push the Gulf countries to expel US forces from their territory.
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