U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has criticized President Donald Trump over the prolonged war with Iran, saying the conflict has entered its eighth month despite Trump’s initial estimate that it would last only four to five weeks.
In a post on X on Tuesday, September 29, Schumer said Trump had initially indicated the war would last four to five weeks but that the conflict had now continued for months. He said Americans and U.S. service members were paying the price for the prolonged fighting. Trump’s four-to-five-week estimate was also documented in the Congressional Record and reported by U.S. media at the start of the conflict.
Schumer also criticized Senate Republicans over a vote last week on legislation seeking to end or restrict the president’s military action against Iran. On September 24, the Senate rejected a Democratic-led war-powers resolution by a narrow 50-49 vote. Four Republican senators, Susan Collins, Rand Paul, Thom Tillis and Lisa Murkowski, joined Democrats in supporting the measure, while Democrat John Fetterman voted against it.
The vote was the latest in a series of congressional efforts to challenge the Trump administration’s handling of the conflict. Reuters has reported that Democrats have repeatedly sought to use war-powers resolutions to restrict Trump’s authority to continue military operations against Iran, while the administration has continued to pursue the conflict without securing broad congressional support for ending it.
Trump, meanwhile, said Monday that the United States would win the war “very soon” and indicated that mediators were working toward an end to the conflict. The remarks came as indirect efforts to resolve the war continued and concerns remained over the economic and security consequences of the prolonged fighting.
The conflict began on February 28, when the United States and Israel launched military action against Iran. More than six months later, the fighting has continued to affect regional security, energy markets and U.S. domestic politics, with the cost of the war and rising fuel prices becoming increasingly prominent issues in Washington.
