Commentary: U.S. Senator Tom Udall (D-N.M.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, issued the following statement after Iranian-backed protestors attacked the U.S. embassy in Iraq following U.S. air strikes:
“The predictable result of the Trump administration’s reckless bluster, escalation and miscalculation in the Middle East is that we are now hurtling closer to an unauthorized war with Iran that the American people do not support. I am hoping and praying the dangerous situation at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad is resolved without serious injuries or loss of life, and I urge the administration to focus on dialogue and diplomacy going forward.
"At a volatile time, President Trump and his advisors are endangering U.S. citizens and pushing us closer to what would be another disastrous and deadly Middle East entanglement — and toward a war that Congress has not approved. Both the House and the Senate took major steps earlier this year with majority bipartisan votes to prevent an unauthorized war with Iran, but the Trump administration and Republican leaders thwarted the will of Congress and kept the measure out of the final national defense bill. This was a potentially tragic missed opportunity, but that is no excuse for inaction going forward. Both Houses of Congress need to step up before it is too late to halt this march to war.”
Udall is the author of a bipartisan amendment to prevent unauthorized war with Iran that passed the House and earned majority support in the Senate.