Will Trump Take Us to War Against Iran?
Phone scripts and emails for pushing your members of Congress to resist the rush to war
Contact all members of Congress:
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: Congress.gov
By US mail: Representatives / Senators
By fax: Representatives / Senators
By Resistbot: Resist.bot
Donald Trump has been dragging us towards an avoidable war with Iran ever since he blew up President Obama’s successful agreement to shut down their nuclear program in 2018, and now the decisive moment may be here. Having given Israel the green light to launch military strikes even while Iran prepared for the next round of negotiations for his long-promised “better deal,” he is now reportedly actively considering having the United States join the conflict directly, possibly participating in the bombing of key sites like a protected nuclear facility at Fordo.
Yesterday, Trump threatened to “take out” Iran’s supreme leader and met with his national security team behind closed doors before speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has also urged residents of Tehran to flee and repositioned multiple military assets to the region.
Trump is demanding “unconditional surrender,” but it’s not at all clear what that means. Permanently stopping Iran’s nuclear program and imposing regime change is likely to require a full-on invasion and occupation. Anything short of that could get a lot of our troops and a lot of innocent civilians in multiple countries killed without solving anything.
The Constitution reserves the power to declare war to Congress, and for very good reason – a decision with such deep, far-reaching consequences should only be undertaken with broad, national support. (An attack on Iran would not have it – recent polling suggests 60% of American citizens, including 53% of Republicans, think the U.S. military should not get involved in this conflict. 56%, including 61% of Republicans, think we should engage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.) While this process has all too frequently been ignored in recent decades, with this reckless, tantrum-prone, thoughtless and tantrum-prone president it is past time for the legislative branch to reclaim its power.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a measure under the 1973 War Powers Resolution to block U.S. strikes without congressional authorization, as has Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA). These are privileged resolutions, so they will get votes within a matter of days. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) is pushing another measure to prohibit the use of federal funds or military forces to support Israel in war on Iran without consent from Congress.
Let’s reach out to our members of Congress and make it clear to them we do not support Trump pulling us into another Middle Eastern war. They should be insisting that any strike on Iran be submitted to Congress for approval, and voting against rubber stamping Trump’s attacks. We can find scripts and language to use here or send this letter via Resistbot by texting SIGN PBOEUZ to 50409.
The Answer Coalition is also holding protests in multiple locations nationwide today – we can find details here. We can also use this email tool from the National Iranian Council endorsing the war powers resolutions and this call tool from the Working Families Party, and sign on to petitions led by Just Foreign Policy and Win Without War.
First posted 4/7/25. Overhauled 6/18/25.
PHONE SCRIPTS
Note you can find numbers for your federal election officials in one place at reps.fyi.
Hi, my name is _________, and I’m a constituent from (city, zip). (If voicemail, leave street address).
I am incredibly alarmed by reports that Trump is about to drag us into another Middle Eastern war. I want ______ to insist that any military strikes against Iran be submitted to a vote by Congress, like the Constitution intends. And I want ________ to oppose those strikes when that vote comes up. Please publicly announce you will back measures like Rep. Massie and Khanna and Senator Kaine’s war powers resolutions.
TALKING POINTS TO USE:
We spent two decades with U.S. soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East. It cost us too many lives and too much money and we have far too little to show for it. No one wants to go back to that, and no one voted for that.
60% of American citizens, including 53% of Republicans, think the U.S. military should not get involved in this conflict
56%, including 61% of Republicans, think we should engage in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.
It’s not clear how we can permanently stop Iran’s nuclear program without a full-on invasion and occupation. Anything short of that could get a lot of our troops and a lot of innocent civilians in multiple countries killed without solving anything.
This is a decision no one intended for just one man to make for America. And I don’t trust the Trump Administration to make it.
They’ve fired too many qualified generals, they’ve ignored basic security measures, and they’ve disrespected our troops too much.
They’re reckless and careless, and Congress needs to do their job and check their power.
We need diplomatic solutions to addressing Iran’s nuclear ambitions in the long term.
EMAIL LANGUAGE
We can send our emails directly through the congressional email system, or send this message via Resistbot by texting SIGN PBOEUZ to 50409.
I am incredibly alarmed by the reports Donald Trump is about to drag us into another Middle Eastern war. I want your office to insist that any military strikes against Iran be submitted to a vote by Congress, like the Constitution intends. And I want you to oppose those strikes when that vote comes up. Please publicly announce you will back measures like Rep. Massie and Khanna and Senator Kaine’s war powers resolutions and support a diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
We spent two decades with U.S. soldiers fighting and dying in this region. It cost us too many lives and too much money, and we have far too little to show for it. No one wants to go back to that, and no one voted for that. 60% of Americans oppose getting our military involved in this conflict.
It’s not clear how we can permanently stop Iran’s nuclear program without a full-on invasion and occupation. And anything short of that could get a lot of our troops and a lot of innocent civilians in multiple countries killed without solving anything.
This is a decision no one intended for just one man to make for America. And frankly I don’t trust the Trump Administration to make it. They’ve fired too many qualified generals, they’ve ignored basic security measures, and they’ve disrespected our troops too much. They’re reckless and careless, and Congress needs to do their job and check their power.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Thank you for making it so easy to voice our opinions!
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