Amid heightened tensions, Pres. Trump's top envoy for Iran refused to say whether the administration believes it has the authority to strike Iran militarily.
President Donald Trump's top envoy for Iran refused to say whether the administration believes it has the authority to strike Iran militarily, amid heightened tensions with the country over its threats to expand its nuclear fuel stockpiles and its reported attacks on oil supply chains in the Middle East.
On Tuesday, a rocket attack outside Basra in southern Iraq blasted workers' sleeping quarters at an oil drilling site operated by ExxonMobil and other international firms. Three Iraqi workers were wounded and a second rocket damaged a Turkish oil facility, but caused no injuries. No one has claimed responsibility, and the U.S. -- so far -- has not pointed the finger at Iran.
"Our pressure campaign is working," U.S. Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook told the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Wednesday, adding that the administration's intense enforcement -- with no waivers for oil purchases, for example -- has cost Iran billions of dollars. There have been growing concerns that the administration may cite connections between Iran and al-Qaeda to justify military strikes, even though some doubt how strong those ties currently are.
He said he had read the Constitution, but Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., who had asked, cut off the line of questioning and submitted the Constitution to the hearing's record. Hook suggested as much to Congress, saying,"Everything that we are trying to do now is defensive. ... There is no talk of offensive action.""The AUMF is irrelevant. You don't need an AUMF to respond to an attack. I don't know why people are confused," Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., told ABC News.
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