WASHINGTON: U.S. President Donald Trump faced pointed criticism over the Iran war in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans on Wednesday, shortly before his administration asked Congress for tens of billions of dollars to pay for the conflict.
Several Republicans who attended said Trump engaged in a shouting match with Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the administration needed to explain a framework deal Trump signed last week that gives Iran financial incentives but falls short of the goals he laid out at the war's beginning.
"The American people need to know more than we are being told," Cassidy told reporters. "It does not appear, although I don't know for sure, that the course of this is going the way that we were told."
Later on Wednesday, the Senate's Republican leaders scheduled a late-night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to hostilities with Iran in what appeared to be an effort to please the president.
The Senate voted by 50 to 47, largely along party lines, to block a war powers resolution that had advanced on a procedural vote in May.
Cassidy, who had voted for recent Iran war powers resolutions, voted no, and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican who also had voted in favour of war powers resolutions, voted present.
Two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with every Democrat except one in favour of the resolution. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democratic no vote.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Michael Bennet of Colorado did not vote.
"This vote puts Iran on notice," Trump said on social media after Wednesday's late-night vote, although it does not affect the earlier vote.
Iran war weighs on Trump's Republicans
Wednesday's high-volume lunchtime exchange with a member of Trump's own party shows how the war has weighed on Trump ahead of November elections that will determine control of Congress.
With his approval rating at its lowest since Trump returned to office last year, just one in four Americans believes the war was worth its costs, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed.
The exchange came a day after the Senate voted to direct Trump to end the war in a separate vote on a resolution passed by the House of Representatives this month. Cassidy was one of four Republicans to back it, along with opposition Democrats.
Trump did not mention the exchange with Cassidy, who was unseated by a Trump-backed challenger in a primary election this year. Later, he criticized the Senate.
"Iran sees that, they go, 'What's that all about?'. Now you know, it's meaningless, right?" Trump told reporters at the White House.
Several hours later, the administration asked Congress for $70 billion to cover the cost of the war, adding to the $867 billion U.S. military budget.
Cassidy got briefing
In a Wednesday evening post on X, Cassidy thanked Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff for "the thorough briefing this afternoon on Iran".
"I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to address many of my concerns," Cassidy said.
Benchmark oil prices fell on Wednesday to their lowest since before the war started, as the initial accord between the United States and Iran lifted Iran's chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing traffic to flow again.
Before it was blockaded in the war, the waterway had carried a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas shipments.
But conflicting accounts have emerged over elements of the deal, which has prompted criticism of Trump at home and abroad.
Financial incentives for Iran, inspections of its nuclear facilities, control of the strait and Israel's parallel war in Lebanon have all been disputed.
The deal sets up 60 days of talks to tackle thornier details, such as Iran's nuclear program.