“Operation Epic Fury” follows a long American tradition of unconstitutional executive overstep.
As one could have predicted, the unenforceable and worthless “War Powers Act” has been violated once more by U.S. President Donald Trump. On February 28, the United States and Israel launched “major combat operations” against Iran, beginning yet another dubiously constitutional bombing campaign. Instead of contacting Congress, Trump announced his executive decision to begin “Operation Epic Fury” from his Mar-a-Lago estate with a video posted to his social media platform, Truth Social, on Saturday, Feb. 28. Fascists love to make the hard decisions — for other people, that is, and typically from the comfort of their plush mansions. As of last week, many lawmakers are pushing to vote on whether to continue the military venture as the threat of another long-term conflict in the Middle East looms.
The War Powers Act, officially the War Powers Resolution, was passed in 1973 to limit the president’s ability to initiate or escalate military action abroad. Unfortunately, it has never actually done that. The resolution allegedly requires that, in the absence of a declaration of war, the president must report to Congress within 48 hours of introducing armed forces into hostilities and must terminate the use of U.S. armed forces within 60 days unless Congress permits otherwise. President Richard Nixon openly opposed this resolution and refused to sign it, but his veto was overridden.
Almost every president since has ignored it with little to no consequence; just a few examples include Reagan’s 1981 troop posture in Central America, the 1989 Panama invasion under George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton’s 1999 Kosovo air campaign and 1993 Bosnia-Herzegovina military-NATO activities, Barack Obama’s 2011 Libya action and Joe Biden’s military actions against Iran-backed militant groups in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. Almost all of these presidents filed reports to Congress claiming that they were “acting pursuant to their constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct United States foreign relations.” President Trump has acted with a heavier hand than his predecessors and often with even flimsier justification.
According to the U.S. and Israeli militaries, over 2,000 targets were struck throughout Iran in the first week of March, killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and hundreds of civilians. Iran’s military has retaliated with missiles and drones of its own, targeting U.S. military bases in Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Jordan as well as Israeli targets. The attacks have disrupted oil shipments and air traffic, injuring civilians and further exacerbating tensions. Strikes have been reported across the Middle East, including in Tehran, Tabriz, Yazd, Natanz, Minab, Kermanshah and Isfahan in Iran, as well as in Dubai, Doha and Tel Aviv.
This is not the first time that Trump has violated the War Powers Act in the past year. In June 2025, the president approved strikes on Iranian nuclear sites in Natanz, Isfahan and Fordo without the approval of Congress. President Trump faced no repercussions for the bombing, playfully named “Operation Midnight Hammer.” It should have been no surprise when he skirted the War Powers Act again by sending the U.S. military into Venezuela to capture its president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife without congressional consent. And if you thought the third time would be the charm to get the constitutional process correct, think again.
All those examples were just from this term. Sorry about the terrifying reminder that the country is only slightly over a year into Donald Trump’s second presidency. Back in 2018, Trump ordered airstrikes against supposed chemical weapons facilities in Syria. In 2020, Trump ordered an airstrike that killed Qasem Soleimani, leader of the Quds Force branch of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Soleimani had been designated a terrorist by the United States since 2005, but that certainly doesn’t merit an extrajudicial killing. Trump plays fast and loose with international and constitutional law, and anyone who assumes that Americans are out of the firing line is sorely mistaken.
