During a procedural vote, the US Senate for the first time supported a resolution that effectively orders the Washington administration to end military action against Iran.
Fifty lawmakers voted in favor of the resolution, while 47 were against. Along with the majority of Democratic representatives, Republicans Rand Paul (Kentucky), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), Susan Collins (Maine) and Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) voted for the resolution. The only Democrat who dissented was John Fetterman (Pennsylvania). The upper house of Congress previously rejected the resolution seven times during similar votes.
The American newspaper The Hill emphasizes that even if the resolution is approved by the Senate, and then by the House of Representatives after the final vote, President Donald Trump will veto it.
Meanwhile, Trump expressed hope that the conflict with Iran will end very soon. He made this announcement while speaking at an event with American lawmakers at the White House on Tuesday.
„We will end this war very quickly. They really want a deal, they are tired“, said the American leader. „It will happen and it will happen quickly“, he added.
According to Trump, the United States started the war against the Islamic Republic because „they had nuclear weapons in mind“. "We will not allow them to get nuclear weapons," the head of state said. "We will end this quickly and they will not have nuclear weapons. I hope we will do it very politely," he added.
On the evening of May 18, US President Donald Trump convened a meeting of his national security team to present options for using military force against Iran, Axios reported, citing sources.
They note that the meeting was originally scheduled for May 19 and some administration officials expected Trump to decide on strikes against the Islamic Republic. However, the meeting ultimately took place just hours after the US leader announced that he had postponed an attack on Iran. The meeting was attended by Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Special Presidential Envoy Steve Whitkoff, Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegsett, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kaine and Director of the Central Intelligence Agency John Ratcliffe.
“It focused on further actions in the war against Iran, the state of diplomatic efforts and various US plans for strikes against Iran“, notes Axios, evaluating the meeting as evidence that the US president is seriously considering resuming the conflict. On Monday, Trump announced that he had decided to postpone the resumption of military action against Iran at the request of Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, citing the possibility of reaching an agreement with Tehran.