President Donald Trump formally notified Congress on Monday, July 13, that the United States has resumed military operations against Iran, asserting that the move reopens a 60-day window under the War Powers Act during which he can continue strikes without congressional approval. The notification arrived as U.S. forces carried out a third consecutive night of strikes against Iranian targets, and as Trump simultaneously ordered the reinstatement of a naval blockade and announced new tolls on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz — a policy his own administration had for weeks condemned as illegal when Iran considered doing the same.
The formal letter to Congress, dated July 10 and reviewed by Reuters, stated that Trump had directed the renewed military action “consistent with my responsibility to protect Americans and United States’ national security and foreign policy interests.” It is this notification that Trump’s administration argues restarts the clock on his authority to act militarily without lawmakers’ sign-off. The letter traced the arc of the conflict since the U.S. joined Israel in striking Iran on February 28, through an April 7 ceasefire that was later extended, and through diplomatic efforts that ultimately broke down.
According to the letter, Trump signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran on June 17, but accused Tehran of violating it by attacking commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. That alleged violation, he said, prompted him to order the renewed strikes that began July 7.
The War Powers Act requires a president to inform Congress within 48 hours of initiating hostilities and mandates that unauthorized military action be terminated within 60 days. Iran’s first such deadline, tied to the war’s outbreak in February, fell on May 1. Trump avoided it by declaring the hostilities terminated once the ceasefire took hold, even though attacks continued and U.S. forces kept blockading Iranian ports. Critics have argued that this interpretation stretches the law past its intent.
A senior House Democratic aide, speaking on condition of anonymity, rejected the administration’s position outright: “The president can’t just wish away months of war he said would only last four to six weeks.”
The dispute over legal authority has not been limited to Democrats. Both the House and Senate passed resolutions last month directing Trump to withdraw U.S. forces from hostilities with Iran, a rebuke that passed despite Republican control of both chambers. Trump responded by accusing lawmakers who voted for the measure of providing “comfort” to Iran and making his job “more difficult.”
The ceasefire’s collapse became evident well before Monday’s formal notice. In a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump waved away the significance of the truce his own White House had once called “a historic breakthrough,” saying the agreement “was sort of a test” that Iran had failed. “These people are crazy,” he said. “We had a deal where we won everything and they basically break the deal… They are extremely unreliable people.”
Shortly after that interview aired, U.S. Central Command announced the latest round of strikes. Trump promised the pressure would continue. “We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow,” he said, adding that Iran had “nothing” to respond with beyond rhetoric. He also raised the possibility of striking Pickaxe Mountain, a fortified site near Iran’s Natanz enrichment facility, despite acknowledging “we see no activity there.”
Central Command said it would resume full enforcement of the naval blockade against vessels moving to or from Iranian ports late Tuesday local time.
The most striking reversal came over the Strait of Hormuz itself, through which roughly one-fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas passes. Trump announced on social media that the United States would now be known as “the Guardian of the Hormuz Strait” and would charge a 20 percent fee on all cargo shipped through it to offset the cost of providing security. He framed the arrangement as a matter of fairness to allies who benefit from U.S. protection, later telling reporters he wanted the U.S. “reimbursed” for defending what he called a “very rich portion of the world,” naming Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates as beneficiaries.
The move directly contradicted the administration’s own prior stance. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had said only weeks earlier that no country is permitted to charge tolls on an international waterway, calling any such practice something the U.S. would never accept. Trump offered no explanation for how his new fee differs from the one Iran had proposed, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment on the shift.
Iran’s government seized on the contradiction. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote on social media that Trump was “absolutely right” that whoever secures safe passage through the strait deserves compensation, adding that Iran has “always been the guardian” of the waterway and intends to remain so. He characterized the 20 percent figure as excessive, saying Iran “will be fair.”
International reaction was similarly critical. The International Maritime Organization, a United Nations agency, passed a resolution Monday reaffirming that passage through the strait should remain free of tolls under international law. Robert Kagan, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the toll undercuts the rationale the U.S. had used to justify military pressure on Iran in the first place: “Trump undermines whatever legitimacy we could have claimed,” he said, questioning why allies would take risks to help secure the strait only to be charged for the result.
The economic fallout was immediate. Oil prices rose and stock markets fell following the announcement of the blockade and shipping tolls, compounding pressure on a White House already facing unease within its own party. Many Republican lawmakers, wary of the political cost heading into the fall midterm elections, have pushed to redirect attention toward domestic issues and have expressed growing discomfort with the war’s economic toll.
Despite ordering renewed strikes, Trump has shown little appetite for a full return to the intensity of the war’s opening phase, a 38-day bombardment that failed to alter Iran’s approach to the strait. He said last week that he considered the ceasefire “over” but indicated that diplomatic talks would continue regardless.
The strait has remained the central flashpoint of the conflict since it began in February, with Iran demonstrating repeatedly that it can restrict a passage vital to global energy markets. The ceasefire’s language, which committed Iran only to using “best efforts” to ensure safe passage of commercial vessels, left room for interpretation that Tehran has since exploited — a fact that has left Trump without a clear strategy for restoring the strait to its prewar status, even as bombs and diplomacy have both failed to produce a lasting resolution.