Trump Tells Congress Iran Hostilities Have Ended as 60-Day Clock Runs Out

President Trump told congressional leaders on Friday that hostilities with Iran have “terminated,” a claim that arrived on the 60th day since he first notified Congress of the war and that appears designed to answer the deadline in the 1973 War Powers Resolution. CBS News reported that the nearly identical letters to House Speaker Mike Johnson and Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Senate’s president pro tempore, say there has been “no exchange of fire between the United States Forces and Iran since April 7, 2026,” and that “the hostilities that began on February 28, 2026 have terminated.”

The War Powers Resolution requires a president to notify Congress within 48 hours of sending forces into hostilities and then gives the president 60 days to end the use of force unless Congress declares war or authorizes it. Trump formally notified Congress on March 2, so Friday was the 60th day, CBS News reported. The administration’s position is that the clock paused when a ceasefire began in early April.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made that argument to the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday. “We are in a ceasefire right now,” he said, which in the Pentagon’s understanding means the 60-day clock “pauses or stops,” according to CBS News.

Asked about the deadline as he left the White House on Friday, Trump said many presidents have exceeded it. CBS News quoted him saying the War Powers Resolution “never been adhered to” and that “every other president considered it totally unconstitutional. And we agree with that.” CBS noted that presidents from Harry Truman to Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon acted in wars without congressional approval, a history the administration’s supporters cite in arguing that the 1973 law cannot bind a commander in chief.

Democrats rejected the claim. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, in a post on X, called the assertion that hostilities had ended “bulls***” and said, “This is an illegal war,” arguing that Republicans who let it continue are complicit, according to CBS News. The network reported that several Republicans want the administration either to wind down operations at the 60-day mark or to seek formal authorization, though it did not name them.

The ceasefire is fragile and the confrontation continues in other forms. CBS News reported that a U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports began April 13 and that U.S. Central Command said it had redirected at least 41 ships since the blockade began. Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has fallen by more than 90 percent since the conflict began, according to the U.K. Royal Navy, as quoted by the network, and the Treasury Department warned Friday that paying Iran’s proposed transit toll could violate U.S. sanctions.

CBS News also reported that Trump, speaking at a Florida dinner, described the Navy’s seizure of an Iranian-flagged cargo ship, the Touska, as akin to piracy, saying, “We’re like pirates.” Whether the ceasefire counts as the end of hostilities under the War Powers Resolution, which does not define the term, is the question now facing Congress.