Trump's Iran strikes met with condemnation from Minnesota Democrats in Congress, praise from GOP

Sydney Kashiwagi, Star Tribune on Jun 23, 2025

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WASHINGTON — Minnesota’s six Democrats sharply condemned President Donald Trump’s surprise attacks on Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, arguing that he should have received congressional authorization before they were carried out.

Meanwhile, just two of the state’s four Republicans in Congress spoke out about the attacks, both applauding Trump actions.

Minnesota’s senior Sen. Amy Klobuchar said that though she thinks Iran should not have nuclear weapons, his strikes were not the solution to stop them.

“The President’s order for direct strikes, and his threats of a much wider U.S. military campaign against Iran well beyond its nuclear sites, could lead our country into a dangerous and open-ended war,” Klobuchar said on X. “He must not, and under our Constitution cannot, take these actions without congressional authorization and a full debate in Congress over the goals, risks, and implications.”

Democrats maintain that Trump went against the Constitution — which gives Congress the ability to authorize war — by making a unilateral decision to carry out the attacks.

Operation Midnight Hammer was a precision strike that hit three key nuclear sites across Iran. Trump has said the goal of the mission was to destroy the country’s nuclear enrichment capacity and to stop “the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state sponsor of terror.”

Iran responded Monday by launching a limited missile attack on a U.S. military base in Qatar.

Rep. Betty McCollum, who serves as the ranking member of the Defense Subcommittee, said she thinks Trump’s strikes were “unconstitutional” because Iran did not immediately pose a direct risk to the country.

“The President publicly stated that there was a two-week window for diplomacy. It appears the President had no intention of honoring that public timeline. This decision by President Trump has now put U.S. forces in the region at grave risk of retaliation by Iran and its proxies,” McCollum said on X.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a Minnesota native, said Sunday that Trump achieved what no other presidents have been able to do: “delivering the final blow to Iran’s nuclear program.”

Hegseth said the strikes were an example of Trump’s “peace through strength” ethos.

Reps. Tom Emmer and Pete Stauber both praised Trump for taking action.

“A nuclear Iran posed a threat to the Middle East and to the world. (Trump) has been consistent that this dangerous regime should NEVER possess a nuclear weapon. He was right then, and he is right today: NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE,” Emmer, the House Majority Whip, said on X.

“Iran has been wanting to eliminate the United States and Israel for decades. President Trump’s decision to surgically remove this threat was decisive leadership with the power of our extraordinary military force! This is peace through strength,” Stauber said on X.

Emmer and Stauber both issued statements of prayer for U.S. troops following news of Iran’s retaliatory attacks.

Republican Reps. Michelle Fischbach and Brad Finstad have not said anything publicly about the attacks and could not be immediately reached for comment Monday.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that Congress will convene for a classified meeting at 3 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Days before Trump’s strikes on Iran, Kentucky GOP Rep. Thomas Massie and Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced legislation in the House and Senate that would prevent the U.S. armed forces from ‘unauthorized hostilities’ in Iran. Kaine’s War Powers Resolution accompanies Massie’s bipartisan Iran War Powers Resolution, co-led by Ro Khanna, D-Ca.

Rep. Ilhan Omar is a co-sponsor of the legislation and called on lawmakers to immediately vote on the resolution when they return to Washington this week.

“The strikes on Iran, ordered by President Trump and executed without congressional authorization, mark a dangerous and reckless escalation of an already volatile conflict in the Middle East,” Omar said on X.

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