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The National Iranian American Council (NIAC) has filed a federal lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump’s ongoing war on Iran.
The organization filed the complaint on Thursday, asking a court to halt the U.S.’s military action against Iran and to declare the U.S.’s war on Iran unconstitutional.
The lawsuit argues that Trump violated the Constitution’s war powers checks, and that the war continues to harm Iranian Americans, including those represented by the organization.
Since the U.S. and Israel launched their war on Iran in February, “at least 3,600 Iranians have been killed, at least 18 U.S. servicemembers have lost their lives, the security situation in the region has spiraled out of control, the global economy has teetered, and Americans have watched as billions have been taken out of our pockets to wage an illegal war that has no end in sight,” Jamal Abdi, NIAC’s president, said in a statement on Thursday as NIAC announced its lawsuit.
Abdi stated that not only did Trump not ask Congress for a declaration of war, but Congress has formally declared that the war must end — and yet it has continued.
“We’re filing this now because we have explored every single recourse to enforce the constitution, enforce our laws, and end this illegal war,” Abdi told Truthout. “Our members have taken to the streets to protest alongside many other Americans; they have visited their lawmakers, encouraged them to pass war powers resolutions. We’ve done everything that active citizens should do, and yet the war continues, and the president has ignored acts of Congress and public opinion. Taking this to the courts may be the last recourse to actually uphold our laws and the Constitution.”
The lawsuit states that without action, the war will continue indefinitely.
“We’re not just going to wait around for others to act, we decided we needed to take this to the courts now, because the war is only going to get worse. We really fear that there are catastrophic options on the table that could make what has already been so horrific, a true human catastrophe. And so we think it’s really urgent that the courts act now,” Abdi told Truthout.
Part of the demand is simply for an acknowledgement that the continued U.S. aggression on Iran constitutes a war — as the White House has declared the war to be over since a ceasefire was declared in April. The Trump administration has used this so-called ceasefire – which was never adhered to — as an excuse to evade challenges to Trump’s war powers authority.
Though Trump has often refused to use the term “war,” opting instead for “skirmish” or “military operation,” he has admitted that the U.S. is waging war on Iran — including in his Tuesday speech at the UN General Assembly.
“We hope that the courts will agree with the president’s own words and Congress’s, that this is indeed a war,” Abdi told Truthout. “If they issue a declaration to that end, that means the president needs to terminate the war. We expect the administration will fight this, they’ll try to get it thrown out, but we plan to take it as far as it needs to go including up to the Supreme Court to settle this question.”
“Because it’s not just this war, it’s future wars,” Abdi added. “There’s this huge legal grey area where it seems the president can just do whatever he wants. We can’t live in this state of limbo every time the president decides he wants to unilaterally start a war.”
The complaint details the hardships faced by eight Iranian Americans represented by NIAC, whose family members have been injured or killed throughout the war. This includes the grandmother of a NIAC member who depends on an oxygen machine and was thus not able to be evacuated from her home in Tehran during the bombing; the second cousin of a NIAC member who was killed in a missile strike; and family members trapped in Iran due to airline sanctions who continue to face bombing.
“We believe that the fact that we are a member organization that represents thousands of Iranian Americans who are either themselves in direct harm or have family members who are in direct harm from the war continuing, that that gives us standing [in this case],” Abdi added. Several of their members submitted affidavits, he explained, outlining how they or their family have suffered and will continue to suffer if the war continues.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened to “annihilate” Iran in his speech to the UN General Assembly, only the latest of his genocidal threats against the country.
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