{"id":218075,"date":"2026-07-24T07:47:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:47:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-launches-latest-round-of-strikes-on-iran-trump-defends-war-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T07:47:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T07:47:19","slug":"us-launches-latest-round-of-strikes-on-iran-trump-defends-war-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/us-launches-latest-round-of-strikes-on-iran-trump-defends-war-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"US launches latest round of strikes on Iran; Trump defends war – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

President Donald Trump<\/a> defended his administration’s ongoing war with Iran after four U.S. troops were killed over the weekend and hours after the House and Senate split on whether to tell the president to end the conflict.
“We want to get it over with, and we want to do it right, but we have to… do what we came to do,” Trump said Thursday afternoon.\u00a0
Earlier Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to end the war 214-208, with four Republicans joining Democrats to rebuke the White House. The Senate then struck down a similar measure, with key Republicans backing the president.
The resolutions were largely symbolic and would not have forced an end to the war, but did force lawmakers to record their stance less than four months before most of them face re-election. More than two-thirds of Americans said they disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran war in a Washington Post\/Ipsos poll<\/a> earlier this month.
The vote comes two days after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth<\/a> asked Congress<\/a> for $67 billion in additional funding for the war, prompting Democrats to question whether the administration has a plan to end the war. Iran and the United States continue to fight over control of the Strait of Hormuz as Tehran has periodically attacked ships in order to deter traffic and choke the world’s oil supply, prompting increased volatility in already high gasoline prices.
Thao Nguyen
The U.S. military is launching another round of strikes against Iran, U.S. Central Command, also known as CENTCOM, said July 23. The strikes began at around 6:45 p.m. ET, according to CENTCOM.
“This is the 13th consecutive night of strikes aimed to hold Iran accountable and diminish threats from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to commercial shipping,” CENTCOM said in a post on X<\/a>.
Earlier on July 23, President Donald Trump<\/a> had promised “major military punishment” for\u00a0Iran\u00a0after Iran-backed\u00a0Houthi militants\u00a0said they attacked<\/a>\u00a0two\u00a0oil tankers\u00a0from Saudi Arabia\u00a0in the Red Sea.\u00a0
“If they do this again, the U.S. will hold\u00a0Iran\u00a0responsible, in that the Houthis are a Surrogate and\/or Proxy of\u00a0Iran, and major military punishment will be inflicted upon\u00a0Iran\u00a0and, of course, the Houthis, themselves,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Francesca Chambers
Trump defended his administration’s ongoing military campaign hours after the House voted to end the war with Iran, while the Senate sided with the president.
“We want to get it over with, and we want to do it right, but we have to… do what we came to do,” Trump said at an event at the Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, DC. “We can’t let them have what they want, which is nuclear weapons.”
Trump’s remarks came a day after he attended the dignified transfer of four U.S. service members who were killed in overseas fighting related to the conflict. “I had a very sad day yesterday,” Trump said Thursday, July 23.
A total of 18 Americans have been killed since the war began on Feb. 28.
Comparing the death toll to previous wars in which thousands of lives were lost, Trump added: “One is too many, but it’s 18.”
Kim Hjelmgaard
The Trump administration signed an agreement with Saudi Arabia to develop a nuclear program<\/a>, even as the White House escalates a war with Iran that is aimed, in part, at destroying its nuclear capabilities.
The U.S. Department of Energy described the agreement as one that would allow\u00a0Saudi Arabia<\/a>\u00a0to develop its civilian energy nuclear program and give U.S. companies “great access” to related commercial deals.
Congress has not yet approved the arrangement, and few details about it have been made public. But former officials and members of the nuclear community said it is a major shift in U.S. policy and risks accelerating a nuclear arms race in an already volatile region.
The deal is designed to give U.S. companies a key role in developing Saudi Arabia\u2019s nuclear infrastructure. This stands in stark contrast to the war being waged by the Trump administration to halt\u00a0Iran’s nuclear program<\/a>.
Like Saudi Arabia, Iran insists \u2013 despite significant international skepticism \u2013 that it is only interested in nuclear energy, not nuclear weapons. But Saudi Arabia and Iran are historic rivals who compete for regional dominance.
Phillip M. Bailey
The four Republicans who sided with House Democrats on ending the war with Iran have varying political motivations and relationships with President Trump.
Both Fitzpatrick and Barrett are running for reelection in swing districts in Pennsylvania and Michigan respectively, which the GOP need to hold if they hope to keep their razor-thin House majority.
Democrats have focused much of their messaging around rising gas prices<\/a> in both of their districts ahead of the 2026 midterms, particularly in Fitzpatrick’s area which covers Philadelphia suburbs in the southeastern corner of the Keystone State.
The average cost to fill up has climbed to about $4.23 a gallon<\/a> in the state, according to AAA, which is $1 higher than a year ago.
Massie is among a group of so-called “free agents” in Washington who’ve lost their primaries after clashing with the president, but remain in Congress.
Davidson, however, is a bit of an outlier. He’s representing an Ohio seat that rated as “safe” by experts but he has criticized the war without facing Trump’s wrath.
“For some, this debate will be about whether we should even be fighting in Iran,” Davidson said on the House floor in March. “For me, the debate is more fundamental: Is the president of the United States, regardless of the person holding the office, empowered to do whatever he wants? That’s not what our Constitution says.”
Zachary Schermele
Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, told USA TODAY that although he voted “no” on Thursday\u2019s war powers resolution, he will flip his vote and support ending hostilities after Sept. 10.
His rationale: That is 60 days from what he says is the first time the Trump administration referred to the conflict as a war.
The War Powers Act gives the president a 60-day window to receive authorization to officially declare a war from Congress \u2014 which technically has that specific power under the Constitution.
Erin Mansfield
The Senate voted down a measure that would have directed the president to end the war in Iran, just hours after the House passed a similar measure led by Democrats.
The measure failed 49-47.
The measure is largely symbolic but required senators facing re-election Nov. 7 to take a public stance on the war.
Erin Mansfield and Zachary Schermele
A vote is underway in the Senate over whether to direct President Donald Trump to remove U.S. service members from Iran.
The measure appears likely to fail because prominent Republican critics of Trump, including Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, voted against it.
Zachary Schermele
On the steps of the Capitol, Democrats took a victory lap after the House again rebuked the war.
\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled with this vote tally,\u201d said Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Washington.
Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colorado, said accountability was \u201ccoming back to life\u201d in Congress.
\u201cWhat you just saw was the United States Congress doing its job, to take an up or down vote on matters of war and peace,\u201d he said.
Erin Mansfield
The House of Representatives on July 22 passed a $1.15 trillion military spending bill by a margin of 216-212, with Republicans largely in support and Democrats largely opposed.
Seven Republican lawmakers, however, bucked the White House and voted against the package. Six Democrats voted in favor.
Every year, the House and Senate each pass their own versions of the annual military spending bill and then negotiate a compromise before sending it to the president for his signature.
Contributing: Reuters<\/em>
Zachary Schermele
The House voted again Thursday to end military hostilities in Iran, with four Republicans bucking the White House.
The measure passed 214-208.
The GOP lawmakers were Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Warren Davidson of Ohio and Tom Barrett of Michigan.
Erin Mansfield
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that Iran pulled the Houthis into bombing ships in the Red Sea overnight, and hoped they would change their behavior and stay out of the conflict with Iran.
“They got suckered into this by the Iranians,” Rubio said during a trip to Southeast Asia. “The Houthis largely were smart and stayed out of this throughout the conflict, but now the apparently have gotten themselves suckered into this going after Saudi Arabia and their ships.”
Rubio pointed to reports overnight of Saudi ships<\/a> carrying 4 million barrels of oil for China that were attempting to exit the Red Sea.
“Are they going to blow up the Chinese ship and this becomes a problem for China?” Rubio asked. “This will become a problem for the whole world. But I hope that they will de-escalate.”
Natalie Neysa Alund
The United States deployed a B-1 long-range bomber to strike targets in Iran since the renewal of the conflict between the countries less than two weeks ago, according to multiple news outlets.
The supersonic plane, part of the U.S. Air Force’s military bomber fleet, carries up to 2,000 pounds of bombs and can reach speeds up to Mach 1.2, according to according to information from the\u00a0Air Force Global Strike Command.<\/a>
According to The Jerusalem Post<\/a>, the military deployed the B-1 on Tuesday, July 21, and struck Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps targets.
It was not immediately known what targets were struck but Axios<\/a> reported the long-range bomber launched its mission from an airbase in the UK and was spotted on online plane tracking websites.
As of Thursday, July 23, CENTCOM had not publicly released<\/a> information about Tuesday’s strike or said whether any casualties were involved.
Rachel Barber
Oil prices surged Thursday morning after\u00a0Iran-backed\u00a0Houthi militants\u00a0said they attacked<\/a>\u00a0two\u00a0oil tankers\u00a0from Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally,\u00a0in the Red Sea.\u00a0The group controls the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a waterway that has been used as an alternative oil shipping route as U.S.-Iran hostilities limited traffic through the Strait of Hormuz<\/a>.\u00a0
Brent crude oil \u2014 the international benchmark \u2014 rose\u00a0more than 6% on Thursday, returning to $100 per barrel\u00a0and\u00a0its highest level since late May.\u00a0West Texas Intermediate oil\u00a0\u2014 the U.S. benchmark \u2014 rose 5% to near $91 per barrel,\u00a0its highest level since early June.\u00a0
Gas prices, which often lag oil prices, remain above $4 per gallon. As of\u00a0Thursday morning, the national average price for a gallon of regular gasoline is\u00a0$4.09, up from $3.93 last month\u00a0and $3.16 this time last year.\u00a0
Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said\u00a0in\u00a0an X post<\/a>\u00a0Thursday that the national average could climb to somewhere between $4.25 and $4.40 per gallon \u201cin the next couple weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n

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President Donald Trump defended his administration’s ongoing war with Iran after four U.S. troops were killed over the weekend and hours after the House and Senate split on whether to tell the president to end the conflict.“We want to get it over with, and we want to do it right, but we have to… do […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":218076,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=218075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/218076"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=218075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}