US Representative Ro Khanna of California
Press TV
2026/10/09
A US Democratic lawmaker has demanded that Congress cut short its recess and return to Washington to vote on ending the American war of aggression against Iran, as fuel prices at home continue to climb.
“I’m demanding that Congress return to Washington and vote to end the war,” Representative Ro Khanna wrote on X.
In a post on X late Thursday, Representative Ro Khanna of California wrote: “The war in Iran continues and Congress is on vacation until November. Gas prices are well over $4. Diesel prices are over $6. I’m demanding that Congress return to Washington and vote to end the war.”
Khanna has repeatedly described the US-Israeli offensive, launched without congressional authorization in late February, as illegal and unstrategic.
Earlier, he said that if Democrats regain the House in the November midterms, ending the war would be among their first priorities.
In a September post, he listed five measures Democrats would pursue in January: raising the minimum wage, passing paid family leave, ending the war in Iran, holding a vote on Medicare for All, and taxing billionaires.
The House has already approved war-powers resolutions aimed at halting the operation on multiple occasions, most recently on 16 September by a 220-204 vote, with seven Republicans joining Democrats. None of the measures has reached the president’s desk.
Representative Seth Moulton of Massachusetts, a combat veteran who advanced the latest resolution, said the war “has not only failed, but backfired,” adding: “Remember when Donald Trump said that this war would last just a few weeks?”
Representative Gregory Meeks of New York, the ranking Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, stated during floor debate: “This Congress has not authorized a war with Iran, and yet this administration has kept our troops in harm’s way without a declaration of war, without an authorization from Congress and without any plan for how to win or end the war.”
Even some Republicans have voiced unease over the domestic costs.
Iowa Representative Zach Nunn, who voted for the September resolution, said “sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization” and that he would “not support another open-ended war.”
Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington, after a failed Senate effort to force an end to hostilities, said: “The costs of President Trump’s unnecessary war with Iran continue to mount, and the American people want it to end. We have lost valuable lives, and the conflict is compounding the burden of high gas and grocery prices at home.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland earlier told colleagues: “We should take a stand today and end this war, and we should finally start putting the interests of the American people ahead of costly and unnecessary conflicts.”
The US-Israeli strikes constitute an unlawful act of aggression, and Iran retains the right to defend its territory and sovereignty.
Despite months of bombardment, Iranian officials say the country’s defensive capabilities and energy exports have not been neutralized, while American households face elevated fuel and food costs that lawmakers themselves now cite as a reason to stop the war.
The midterm elections on November 3 will decide all House seats and roughly one-third of the Senate, offering voters a direct verdict on the administration’s handling of the conflict.
