Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), a combat veteran who lost both legs flying a Blackhawk helicopter in Iraq, accused President Trump of lying to the American people on May 4, 2026, after the U.S. military sank six Iranian small boats in the Strait of Hormuz amid an exchange of missile and drone fire between American and Iranian forces — just three days after Trump sent Congress a letter declaring that hostilities with Iran had “terminated.” “U.S. and Iranian ships are exchanging missile fire today in the Strait of Hormuz,” Duckworth posted on X. “Trump’s claims that hostilities have ceased were bullshit. He is lying to the American people and prolonging his disastrous war of choice — and he’s doing it illegally.”
Her statement came hours after the Associated Press reported that the U.S. military had sunk six Iranian small boats targeting civilian vessels in what CENTCOM described as the latest test of the ceasefire reached on April 7. U.S. Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper confirmed the military had “blown up” six small Iranian boats after Iran launched “multiple cruise missiles, drones and small boats” at U.S. Navy ships and commercial vessels under American military protection. Trump later said the U.S. had shot down “seven small” Iranian boats. Cooper and Trump both declined to answer directly when asked whether the ceasefire was still in effect.
What Happened in the Strait on May 4
May 4 was among the most militarily active days since the April 7 ceasefire. The U.S. military fired on Iranian forces and sank six small boats that were targeting civilian ships as part of a new initiative to reopen the Strait of Hormuz — dubbed Operation Project Freedom. Two U.S.-flagged merchant ships successfully transited the strait on Monday as part of the operation, the first to do so since the waterway was effectively closed. Simultaneously, the United Arab Emirates — a key American ally — said it had come under sustained attack from Iran for the first time since the ceasefire took hold. The UAE Defense Ministry said its air defenses engaged 15 missiles and four drones fired by Iran. Authorities in Fujairah said one drone sparked a fire at a key oil facility, wounding three Indian nationals. Commercial planes bound for Dubai and Abu Dhabi turned around midair as four missile alerts were issued — the first since the ceasefire began.
Iran disputed the U.S. account. An Iranian military commander said two small civilian cargo boats were hit on Monday, killing five civilians, according to Iranian state TV. Iran’s parliament speaker and chief nuclear negotiator Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf said Iran had “not even begun yet” its response to the U.S. effort to reopen the waterway — a statement that did not mention the ongoing negotiations with Washington through Pakistan, and that signaled Tehran has not accepted the U.S. lane-opening operation as consistent with the ceasefire terms. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned Tuesday on X that the U.S. and the UAE “should be wary of being dragged back into quagmire.” South Korea’s Foreign Ministry said a South Korean-operated vessel caught fire in the strait after an explosion on Monday — it was carrying 24 crew members including six South Koreans — and was being towed to port for investigation, with no casualties reported.
The War Powers Lie — Duckworth’s Legal Argument
Duckworth’s charge that Trump is acting “illegally” is grounded in the War Powers Resolution of 1973 (50 U.S.C. §§ 1541-1548), which requires a president to terminate military hostilities within 60 days of notifying Congress, unless Congress declares war or formally authorizes the use of force. The 60-day clock triggered by Trump’s March 2 notification to Congress reached its deadline on May 1 — three days before the Strait of Hormuz fighting. On that day, Trump sent letters to congressional leaders claiming the “hostilities that began on February 28, 2026, have terminated,” invoking the ceasefire as the basis for stopping the clock.
Multiple constitutional law experts immediately challenged that claim. Michael Glennon, who helped draft the War Powers Resolution in 1973, said: “That’s not a ceasefire. It’s not a suspension of hostilities. The war has not ended.” Stephen Pomper, a former National Security Council senior director, said the naval blockade alone constitutes ongoing hostilities — “a hostile act, an act of war, that puts U.S. troops at risk.” The May 4 exchange of fire in the strait made those arguments impossible to dismiss. The Senate had voted six times on War Powers resolutions to compel Trump to halt the conflict — all six blocked by Republicans. Duckworth sponsored and forced four of those votes, as documented in official press releases from her Senate office.
Duckworth’s Record on This Fight — Dating Back Years
Duckworth’s May 4 statement is the culmination of a years-long campaign to enforce congressional war authorization requirements over Iran policy — one that began well before the current conflict. As documented in a 2020 press release from her Senate office, Duckworth forced a vote on a war powers resolution regarding Iran in January 2020, following Trump’s strike that killed Iranian Major General Qasem Soleimani — pressing then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper at his 2019 confirmation hearing to agree that existing authorizations for use of military force do not grant the president authority to wage war against Iran. Esper agreed. The 2026 war began without any new AUMF — the same constitutional deficiency Duckworth had been raising for seven years.
Since the February 28 launch of the Iran war, Duckworth has led or co-led every Senate Democratic effort to force war powers votes. A press release from her office dated April 15, 2026 documented her Senate floor speech demanding Republicans “remember their oaths” and vote for her War Powers Resolution — calling the war “unnecessary, unjustified and illegal” and saying Trump was “trying to shroud his incompetence behind the valor of our servicemembers.” Republicans blocked the measure. A press release from April 14 documented her joining Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and other Democrats to announce a forced vote, in which she said Trump “cares more about saving face than saving lives” and described the Hormuz blockade as “a dangerous, complex, partial military blockade — once again launching a risky new front in this war at our servicemembers’ expense, with no justification, explanation, or even ‘concept of a plan’ of how to get to an end-state.”
Who Is Tammy Duckworth — and Why Her Words Carry Weight
Duckworth’s moral authority on questions of war, military sacrifice, and presidential accountability with troops in harm’s way is unmatched in the Senate. As documented by her official Senate biography, she was born in Bangkok, Thailand, the daughter of an American veteran and a Thai mother. She joined the Army ROTC, became a Blackhawk helicopter pilot in the Illinois National Guard, and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom — one of the first handful of Army women to fly combat missions in the country. On November 12, 2004, her helicopter was hit by an RPG. The explosion cost her both legs and partial use of her right arm. She spent 13 months recovering at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where she began advocating for other wounded veterans before she had finished her own recovery. She received the Purple Heart and retired from military service in 2014 at the rank of lieutenant colonel after 23 years of service.
She was elected to the House of Representatives from Illinois’s 8th District in 2012 and to the Senate in 2016. She became the first U.S. senator born in Thailand, and in 2018 became the first senator to give birth while serving in office. She serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, the Foreign Relations Committee, and the Veterans’ Affairs Committee — the precise oversight bodies with jurisdiction over the war she is calling illegal. When Duckworth says Trump’s hostility-termination claim was “bullshit,” she is not making a partisan talking point. She is a combat veteran who lost her legs in the last Middle East war she was asked to fight, now watching the president declare a conflict over while ships exchange missile fire in a waterway her country’s forces are actively patrolling.
The Broader Context: A Ceasefire That Isn’t
The fragility of the ceasefire was on full display on May 4 and 5. U.S. military leaders said on May 5 that the ceasefire remains technically in effect — even as Iran’s parliament speaker signaled Tehran had “not even begun yet” to respond to the U.S. lane-opening operation. Only two merchant ships transited the new U.S.-guarded route on Monday, with hundreds more bottled up in the Persian Gulf as shippers remained wary. Iran’s negotiating position — submitted through Pakistan — continues to defer nuclear talks to a later phase, which Washington has rejected. Trump said the weekend before that he was reviewing Iran’s proposal but “can’t imagine” it would be acceptable. Adm. Cooper told reporters on May 5 that more than 100 U.S. military aircraft are patrolling the skies around the strait — a military footprint that is operationally indistinguishable from active combat operations, regardless of the official ceasefire label.
Duckworth’s use of the word “bullshit” to describe Trump’s hostility-termination claim is unusually blunt for a sitting U.S. senator. But it reflects a frustration that has been building for weeks among Democrats who have watched the administration claim the war has paused while the naval blockade, the financial pressure campaign, the weapons delays to allies, the troop withdrawals from Germany, and now the exchange of missile fire in the Strait of Hormuz all continue without pause. “He is lying to the American people,” Duckworth wrote, “and prolonging his disastrous war of choice.” Whether the May 4 fighting constitutes a resumption of hostilities under the War Powers Resolution — or whether the administration’s “hostilities terminated” declaration holds legal weight despite the ongoing combat — will be determined not by a tweet but by the courts, the Congress, and ultimately history. Duckworth has made clear which verdict she expects.