JAKARTA - US President Donald Trump faced sharp criticism of the Iran war in a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans on Wednesday, shortly before his administration asked Congress to allocate tens of billions of dollars to fund the conflict.
Several Republican members present said President Trump got into a verbal altercation with Senator Bill Cassidy, who said the government needed to explain the framework agreement signed by President Trump last week, in which there would be financial incentives to Iran, but the US did not achieve the goals it had set at the beginning of the war.
"The American people need to know more than what has been told to us," Cassidy told reporters, launching Al Arabiya and Reuters (25/6).
"It seems, although I am not sure, that the course of this war is not in accordance with what has been told to us," he said.
Then, in an effort to please the president, Republican leaders in the Senate scheduled a late-night vote to block a resolution calling for an end to the war with Iran.
The Senate voted 50-47, largely along party lines, to block a war powers resolution that had advanced in procedural votes in May.
"This vote is a warning to Iran," President Trump said on social media after the late-night vote on Wednesday, though it did not affect previous votes.
The intense exchange at Wednesday's lunch with a member of Trump's own party showed how the war has weighed on the president ahead of November's elections that will determine control of Congress.
With Trump's approval rating at its lowest point since he returned to office last year, only one in four Americans believe the war is worth the cost, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll.
The exchange came a day after the Senate voted to direct President Trump to end the war in a separate vote on a resolution passed by the House of Representatives this month.
Cassidy is one of four Republicans who support him, along with Democratic members who oppose him.
President Trump did not mention the exchange with Cassidy, who was defeated by a Trump-backed challenger in this year's primary. Later, he criticized the Senate.
"Iran sees it, they ask, 'What is the meaning of all this?' Now you know, it doesn't mean anything, right?" President Trump told reporters at the White House.
Hours later, the administration asked Congress for $70 billion in funding to cover the cost of the war, adding to the US military's $867 billion budget.
In a late-night vote Wednesday, Cassidy, who has voted to support the recent Iran war powers resolution, cast a dissenting vote, while Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, a Republican who has also voted to support the war powers resolution, abstained.
Two Republicans, Senators Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, voted with every Democrat, except one, to support the resolution. Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the only Democrat to vote against it.
Meanwhile, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell from Kentucky and Michael Bennett from Colorado did not vote.
In a post Wednesday night on X, Cassidy thanked Vice President JD Vance and Special Envoy Steve Witkoff for "thorough briefings this afternoon on Iran."
"I appreciate the quick invitation to the White House to discuss many of my concerns," Cassidy said.
It is known that President Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian signed a 14-point Memorandum of Understanding on Wednesday last week, as part of efforts to resolve the conflict in the Middle East triggered by the US-Israeli attack on Iran on February 28.
The signing was part of a mediation by Pakistan to reconcile the two countries, after previously agreeing to a two-week ceasefire on April 8 which was then extended indefinitely by President Trump.
Last weekend, a US delegation led by Vice President Vance and an Iranian delegation led by Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met at the Lake Lucerne Summit at the Swiss Burgenstock Resort, with Pakistani and Qatari mediators.
The Mullah State and Uncle Sam's State are scheduled to continue technical discussions next week, according to Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Tahir Andrabi, launching Al Arabiya and AFP.
Benchmark oil prices fell on Thursday to their lowest level since before the war began, as an initial deal between the United States and Iran lifted Tehran's restrictions on the Strait of Hormuz, allowing traffic to flow again.
Financial incentives for Iran, inspections of its nuclear facilities, control of the strait, and Israel's parallel war in Lebanon were all discussed by both sides.
The agreement sets 60 days of talks to discuss more complicated details, such as Iran's nuclear program.
The deal requires Iran to allow shipments to flow freely through the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days, and Tehran has hinted that it may impose tariffs after that.
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