WASHINGTON—Congressional Democrats will try to place guardrails on the Iran war when the floor is briefly open during a two-week break for Easter.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) detailed his intentions in an April 8 letter to colleagues.
During an April 9 session that would normally be a formality, Democrats will seek to advance a War Powers Resolution on Iran through unanimous consent. It’s a maneuver that House Republicans can easily block.
Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berr said that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire deal between the United States and Iran on April 8.
He told London-based international news outlet Asharq Al-Awsat that the deal covers the fighting in his country, and that Israel is violating the agreement.
Berri said he had contacted Pakistan, a key mediator, to inform it of the Jewish state’s failure to comply, and asked it to talk to Washington to pressure Israel to end its strikes inside Lebanon.
Israel has carried out strikes on Lebanon since the conflict with the Hezbollah terrorist group and Iran broke out last month, coming after Washington and Tehran agreed to a two-week cease-fire.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on April 8 that it had launched its largest coordinated strike in Lebanon and that more than 100 Hezbollah command centers and military sites were targeted in Beirut, the Beqaa Valley, and southern Lebanon.
“In 10 minutes, the IDF completed the largest coordinated strike across Lebanon since the start of Operation Roaring Lion,” the IDF wrote in a post on X. “The strike targeted 100+ Hezbollah headquarters, military arrays, & command-and-control centers in Beirut, Beqaa and southern Lebanon.”
A barrel of West Texas Intermediate—the U.S. benchmark for oil prices—declined almost 16 percent to around $95 on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Crude prices had plunged as much as 19 percent before paring their losses.
American journalist Shelly Kittleson, who was abducted in Iraq last week, has been released, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed in a statement on April 7.
Kittleson, a freelance journalist who contributes to Al-Monitor, was abducted by the Iranian-backed terrorist group Kataib Hezbollah in Iraq’s capital, Baghdad, last week.
Rubio said in a post on X that Kittleson has been freed and U.S. officials are working to facilitate her safe departure from Iraq.
President Donald Trump said on April 7 that he would suspend pending attacks on Iran.
“Based on conversations with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir, of Pakistan, and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks,” Trump said on Truth Social.
His announcement came about an hour and a half before his 8 p.m. ET deadline and after Pakistan’s request that he halt the attack.
China and Russia used their veto power on April 7 to block a United Nations Security Council resolution to coordinate efforts to protect maritime trade routes along the Strait of Hormuz.
The narrow waterway has come under Iranian attack in recent weeks.
As permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, Russia and China both possess veto power to block measures before the international body.
