On Wednesday, President Trump said he hadn’t decided yet if the U.S. will strike Iran’s nuclear facilities. But Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia said a war with Iran would be disastrous.
Kaine introduced a resolution that would require Trump to seek congressional approval before U.S. troops could engage in military conflict with Iran.
“A third war in the Middle East in this century would be a horrible, horrible mistake,” Kaine said, “and it’s going to put U.S. service members at risk and also risk destabilizing the region.”
5 questions with Sen. Tim Kaine
What are you hearing about potential U.S. involvement with Iran?
“There are sources both in Israel and in the White House and in Congress really urging the president to join in a full-scale war against Iran. But there’s also sources in the White House and here in Congress that are saying to the president, ‘Please do not do this.’
“So there’s competing thoughts within the White House about this, and so that’s why I introduced the resolution to force Congress to do what the Constitution requires, which is debate whether the U.S. being in war against Iran is a good idea or not.”
Is it possible for your resolution to be passed by a Republican-controlled Senate?
“It’s possible. You’re right that the Senate Republican majority tends to be very loyal to President Trump, but I remind them of what President Trump has said over and over and over again: ‘We shouldn’t be in another war in the Middle East. The forever wars are over.’ He has a long history that I’m reminding my colleagues of, saying these kinds of military misadventures are a very, very bad idea.”
Would Trump defer to Congress on this decision?
“Congress doesn’t matter to him much, but I saw this in the first Trump term. He initiated a strike that killed the Iranian guard leader [Qasem] Soleimani, and I filed a motion then saying the U.S. shouldn’t be at war with Iran without a vote of Congress, and we got sufficient votes in both houses, including Republican votes. It went to his desk.
“President Trump vetoed the bill, and we couldn’t override the veto, but guess what? He saw what the bill meant, and he backed off. And so yes, this does matter, even if we can’t get there ultimately or say we get there and he vetoes it, he will see the level of Democrats and Republicans in Congress telling him this is a very bad idea and that will be a factor that he will contemplate as he tries to make the decision.”
Do you have what you believe is an accurate handle on the nuclear capabilities of Iran right now?
“Yes, and once the U.S. blew up the nuclear deal, Iran has continued to enrich uranium and increase centrifuges, but there is no indication that Iran has made a decision to turn that into a nuclear weapon.”
American forces are already in the region. How exposed are they and what kind of danger do they face?
“All I can say is based upon what’s happened already, the militias, for example, have been firing drones into U.S. military positions often over the course of the last 5 or 6 years. U.S. positions are pretty well known in the region. And they end up facing a lot of potential threats.
“And again, Iran has said there hadn’t been a really active pace of attacks against U.S. positions in recent months, but they’ve said, ‘If you enter the war on behalf of Israel, then you’re going to see this threat level increase,’ and I think you have to take that threat seriously.”
____
Samantha Raphelson produced and edited this interview for broadcast with Peter O’Dowd. Michael Scotto adapted it for the web.
This article was originally published on WBUR.org.
Copyright 2025 WBUR