After the strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities in June, I wrote in this column about the urgent need for a debate in Congress, and a vote on the prospect of a war with Iran. I wrote about the gravity of the decision to go to war, the lives at risk, and our obligation, especially to those who serve, to let the people speak through their representatives in Congress. This is fundamental to a democracy: the people, not just one person, should decide whether they want this or not.

Last week, nine months after the first strikes against Iran and four weeks into an active aerial and naval conflict, the Senate voted 53-47 against a measure to block President Trump from using military force against Iran without approval from Congress. This was a party line vote, with 52 Republican Senators voting to allow their leader, President Trump, to continue this undeclared war.

While we did get a vote in Congress, we have not had a full debate as a country, or even an honest explanation. The White House has offered different reasons for the war on different days, and as gas prices rise and polling shows just how unpopular the war actually is, President Trump is looking for the exits, even claiming to be secretly negotiating with Iranian leadership on a ceasefire. 

For its part, Iran has denied that any negotiations have taken place, and when Israeli news reported on a 15 point Trump plan for peace, Iran replied that Trump was negotiating with himself – and issued their own five point plan calling for an end to “aggression and assassinations”, war reparations, and a halt to the Israeli campaign in Lebanon.

By taking ownership of this 15 point plan, the Trump administration at least gave Americans, for the first time, a concrete list of objectives for the war. There is no mention of the rights of Iranian women, political dissidents, or the rule of law –  things that led many Iranians to take to the streets in opposition to the regime in the past year. Despite encouraging those Iranians to take over their government in the aftermath of this campaign, Trump has already negotiated himself into accepting the regime’s continued existence.

The central demand is a new nuclear agreement to replace the one Trump tore up. Nuclear nonproliferation is a worthy goal, but by reneging on the previous agreement with Iran, Trump destroyed America’s leverage. Why give up anything in a negotiation when you know the other side won’t honor their end of the deal? 

Trump also demanded the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which had always been open before the war started. Earlier this week, Trump was reported to have told aides he was willing to end the war without reopening the Strait. These are not the demands of a true master negotiator.

With a ground invasion seeming more likely by the day, and with Trump negotiating away our nation’s credibility, our strategic position in the Middle East and in the global community is damaged every day that this continues. With 13 US service members dead as of this writing and many more on their way to the battlefield, it is never too late for Congress to act – it only becomes more urgent.

In July, I wrote that Congress needed to vote to prevent another “forever war.” Despite one failed vote in the Senate, Congress still has the power today to order President Trump to cease his campaign of aggression and assassination. If this Congress fails to do so, the American people will have the opportunity in November to elect a new Congress to show the world that this violence and reckless military adventurism does not represent who we are.