Updated on: March 25, 2026 / 11:59 PM EDT / CBS News
President Trump said Wednesday he has been avoiding the word “war” to describe the U.S. military action against Iran because, he asserted, using that term would require congressional approval. Speaking at a House Republicans fundraising event, he said, “I won’t use the word ‘war’ because they say, if you use the word war, that’s maybe not a good thing to do. They don’t like the word ‘war,’ because you’re supposed to get approval, so I’ll use the word ‘military operation,’ which is really what it is.”
Trump has at times declined to call the campaign a war, telling reporters earlier in the week that “people don’t like me using the word ‘war,’ so I won’t, but the Democrats call it a war.” He has also described the conflict as “an excursion that will keep us out of a war” and repeatedly suggested it would be short-lived. Still, he has occasionally used the word “war,” including during Wednesday’s remarks when he said, “The war essentially ended a few days after we went in.”
The choice of wording reflects an underlying legal debate over whether the president needed Congress’s authorization to launch strikes on Iran last month. The Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war, while naming the president commander in chief. The 1973 War Powers Resolution limits military hostilities to 60 days absent congressional authorization; presidents of both parties have tested that statute. Trump has said the law is unconstitutional.
Democrats have contended the president acted without legal authority by striking Iran without first seeking congressional approval and have questioned whether Iran posed an “imminent” threat. Senate Democrats have held three votes attempting to end U.S. offensive actions in Iran unless Congress authorizes continued operations; each measure has failed largely due to Republican opposition. In the most recent vote, every Democrat except Sen. John Fetterman voted to rein in the president’s war powers, and every Republican except Sen. Rand Paul voted against the measure.
“I don’t think we have had a moment like this, where the United States has been unquestionably at war with a foreign power, where American soldiers are dying as we speak, and it is being hidden actively from the public by the Congress,” Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who sponsored a war powers resolution, said before Tuesday’s procedural vote.
The Trump administration and many Republicans argue the operations are legally justified, citing a threat from Iranian missiles. In a notice to Congress after the operation began, Trump said he “acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.” He added that despite efforts to find a diplomatic solution, “the threat to the United States and its allies and partners became untenable.”
Some congressional Republicans have echoed the administration’s language. House Speaker Mike Johnson said shortly after the U.S. and Israel began striking Iran, “We’re not at war right now. We’re four days into a very specific, clear mission.”
The debate over semantics and legal authority is not new. When President Barack Obama ordered airstrikes against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, his administration argued it did not need congressional authorization and sought to frame the action as limited in scope rather than an open-ended war. At that time, Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes described the effort as enforcing a U.N. resolution with clear goals—protecting Libyan civilians, averting a humanitarian crisis and establishing a no-fly zone—while asserting it was not an open-ended land war.