After nearly two years of stark divisions over the war in Gaza and support for Israel, Democrats seemed to remain at odds over policy toward Iran. Progressives demanded unified opposition before President Donald Trump announced U.S. strikes against Tehran's nuclear program but party leaders were treading more cautiously.
U.S. leaders of all stripes have found common ground for two decades on the position that Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. The longtime U.S. foe has supported groups that have killed Americans across the Mideast and threatened to destroy Israel. But Trump's announcement Saturday that the U.S. had struck three nuclear sites could become the Democratic Party's latest schism, just as it was sharply dividing Trump's isolationist ''Make America Great Again'' base from more hawkish conservatives.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Committee, noted that in January, Trump suggested the U.S. could ''measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.''
''Today, against his own words, the president sent bombers into Iran,'' Martin said in a statement. ''Americans overwhelmingly do not want to go to war. Americans do not want to risk the safety of our troops abroad.''
Sen. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said the U.S. entering the war in Iran ''does not make America more secure.''
''This bombing was an act of war that risks retaliation by the Iranian regime,'' Welch said in a statement.
While progressives in the lead-up to the military action had staked out clear opposition to Trump's potential intervention, the party leadership played the safer ground of insisting on a role for Congress before any use of force.
Martin's statement took a similar tact, stating, "Americans do not want a president who bypasses our constitution and pulls us towards war without Congressional approval. Donald Trump needs to bring his case to Congress immediately.''