The War Congress Didn’t Declare

Ballistic missiles, fired from Iran, have now targeted a major American air base in Qatar.

While the attack was successfully intercepted and resulted in no U.S. casualties, any sense of relief is dangerously premature. The physical damage may be zero, but the damage to our constitutional order is severe.

This strike was not a surprise. It was the direct and predictable retaliation for the President’s unilateral decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities days ago. The theoretical debate over presidential war powers is now over; it has been replaced by the terrifying reality of incoming fire aimed at U.S. service members.

We are now in a state of active, undeclared war, a war that the American people, through their representatives in Congress, never chose to fight.

A Message Sent by Missile

For years, the conflict between the United States and Iran was a “shadow war,” fought through proxies and covert actions. That era has definitively ended. Iran’s decision to launch short- and medium-range ballistic missiles directly from its own territory at Al Udeid Air Base is a clear and unambiguous act of state-on-state hostility.

Intelligence reports indicate this attack was carefully calibrated. By providing advance notice to Qatar and, through diplomatic channels, to the United States, Iran appears to have intended to send a powerful message of capability without causing mass casualties that would trigger an overwhelming American response.

They have signaled a desire to de-escalate, but on their own terms, after what they consider a proportional response. This is a dangerous game of brinksmanship. We are now one miscalculation—one faulty interceptor, one mistaken signal—away from a full-scale regional war.

My apologies for omitting the timeline from the previous article. You are right to ask for it, as a clear sequence of events is crucial for understanding the analysis.

Here is a new section with a timeline of events. It should be inserted into the article directly after the introduction and before the first subheading, “A Message Sent by Missile.”

A Timeline of Escalation

To understand the constitutional gravity of the situation, it is first necessary to have a clear view of the rapidly unfolding events that brought the nation to this point:

Weekend (June 21-22): The United States, acting without prior congressional authorization, conducts airstrikes against several Iranian nuclear facilities. President Trump later posts on social media that the sites were “totally destroyed.”

Monday Morning (June 23): In anticipation of retaliation, President Trump convenes a meeting with his national security team, including the Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, in the White House Situation Room. U.S. bases in the region are placed on high alert.

Monday Afternoon: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) launches a volley of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, a major hub for U.S. military operations in the Middle East.

Immediately Following: Reports emerge that Iran provided advance warning of the attack to both Qatar and, through diplomatic channels, to the United States. Iranian officials state the attack was a proportional response, intended to be symbolic and away from civilian areas.

The Outcome: Qatari air defense systems successfully intercept all missiles. U.S. and Qatari officials confirm there were no casualties and no impact on the base.

Regional Impact: Civilian airspace is temporarily shut down over Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait, disrupting dozens of commercial flights and sowing regional uncertainty.

International Reaction: U.S. allies in the Gulf and Europe, including France, condemn the Iranian attack as a dangerous escalation but universally call for restraint from all parties and a return to diplomacy.

The Price of Unilateral Action

The President’s initial decision to strike Iran has now created a severe diplomatic crisis. Our ally, Qatar, had its sovereignty and airspace flagrantly violated, forcing it to condemn the attack while being caught in the crossfire.

The retaliatory strike has been condemned by allies from France to the Gulf Cooperation Council, derailing diplomatic efforts and creating what French President Emmanuel Macron called a “spiral of chaos.”

This foreign policy fallout is a direct consequence of a constitutional failure at home. By acting unilaterally, the President committed the nation to a course of action that has now destabilized a critical region, endangered our allies, and exposed our troops to direct attack.

The Framers’ Fear Vindicated

This perilous situation is the embodiment of what the framers of the Constitution sought to prevent. They were students of history, deeply aware that kings and emperors unilaterally dragged their nations into ruinous wars. To avoid this fate, they deliberately split the power to go to war.

Article I grants Congress the sole power to “declare War,” ensuring that the decision to send the nation into conflict requires the broad consent of the people’s representatives.

The President’s initial strike on Iran bypassed this entire constitutional framework. The Iranian missile attack on Al Udeid is no longer a fear; it is the vindication of the framers’ warning.

A single executive’s action has now embroiled the entire nation in a perilous conflict, proving why the most momentous decision a nation can make was never meant to be placed in the hands of one person alone.

A War Footing Without a Declaration

The debate over the War Powers Resolution is now moot. Hostilities have commenced. With the President huddled in the Situation Room with his national security team and U.S. bases across the Middle East on high alert, the nation is now on a war footing.

Yet this is a war that lacks the legal foundation and political consensus that a congressional declaration provides. It creates a crisis of legitimacy for any further military action and leaves the nation vulnerable.

This is the ultimate price of sidelining Congress: the country finds itself in a state of war, with all the attendant risks to our troops and national security, without the unified, constitutional authority that our founding document demands.