53 Dems vote against declaring Iran a state sponsor of terror
Dozens of Democrats have voted against a nonbinding resolution in the House that reaffirms Iran as the “largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
The resolution, put forward by Rep. Brian Mast, R-Fla., passed by a 372-53 vote on Thursday, with all those voting no being Democrats. Two Democrats also voted present.
Among those who voted against the measure were all the members of the “Squad,” such as Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., and Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.
The resolution said the Islamic Republic of Iran “remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and provides substantial financial and military support to groups including Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.”
It added that Iran “poses a direct and persistent threat to the United States and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of American citizens,” citing the Pentagon as saying that “Iranian-backed proxy militias are responsible for the deaths of at least 603 U.S. service members in Iraq — roughly one in every six American combat fatalities.”
It also said, “according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafeal Grossi, Iran has amassed a large stockpile of enriched uranium and continues to block access to undeclared sites in Iran affiliated with their ‘big, ambitious nuclear weapons program.’”
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The resolution concludes by saying, “That the House of Representatives declares it is the policy of the United States… that Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism.”
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California Democratic Rep. Lateefah Simon, who voted no, claimed the resolution “contains inaccuracies and is designed to justify the President’s actions in Iran.”
“Republicans in Congress are not only surrendering their constitutional duties – they are also playing politics with a resolution reaffirming Iran as a leading state sponsor of terrorism,” Simon wrote on Facebook. “That is already U.S. policy.”
“I have been clear about my opposition to the brutal and devastating actions of the Iranian regime against those protesting for freedom,” Simon continued. “This resolution does nothing to advance their freedom and instead, puts Congress on record as giving the Administration further pretext for a war that should not have been started in the first place.”
Rep. Julie Fedorchak, R-N.D., who voted in favor of the resolution, said in a statement that, “This week’s bipartisan classified briefing with Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, John Ratcliffe, and General Dan Caine underscored the significance of the threat we face from an Iran intent on developing nuclear weapons behind a curtain of impenetrable ballistic weapons.”
“Standing with our allies and confronting state-sponsored terrorism is essential to protecting Americans and advancing stability around the world,” she added. “This resolution sends a strong message that we will not ignore or excuse the regime’s extremist actions.”
Rep. Adam Smith, a Democrat from Washington state who also voted in favor of the resolution, said, “I agree with the principal assertion of this resolution that Iran is a bad actor.
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“Iran’s malign and destabilizing actions in the region and treatment of its own citizens should be denounced. I have never contested this. What I do contest is that going to war is the reasonable response to this assertion,” he continued. “I support this resolution. I do not support the president’s war of choice with Iran.”
Full list of 53 House Democrats who voted no:
Here are the full names of the Democratic House lawmakers listed alphabetically by last name:
- Donald S. Beyer Jr.
- Suzanne Bonamici
- André Carson
- Greg Casar
- Joaquin Castro
- Yvette D. Clarke
- Steve Cohen
- Danny K. Davis
- Maxine Dexter
- Lloyd Doggett
- Dwight Evans
- Lizzie Fletcher
- Valerie Foushee
- Maxwell Alejandro Frost
- Robert Garcia
- Jesús “Chuy” García
- Al Green
- Raúl M. Grijalva
- Val Hoyle
- Jared Huffman
- Sara Jacobs
- Pramila Jayapal
- Henry C. “Hank” Johnson, Jr.
- Robin Kelly
- Ro Khanna
- Raja Krishnamoorthi
- Summer Lee
- Sarah McBride
- Morgan McGarvey
- James P. McGovern
- LaMonica McIver
- Christian D. Menefee
- Robert Jacobsen “Rob” Menendez Jr.
- Gwen Moore
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
- Ilhan Omar
- Chellie Pingree
- Mark Pocan
- Ayanna Pressley
- Delia Ramirez
- Emily Randall
- Luz Rivas
- Linda T. Sánchez
- Janice D. “Jan” Schakowsky
- Lateefah Simon
- Mark Takano
- Rashida Tlaib
- Lori Trahan
- Lauren Underwood
- Nydia M. Velázquez
- Maxine Waters
- Bonnie Watson Coleman
- Nikema Williams.
Iranian vessel suffers engine failure, offloads crew days after US submarine sank other ship
An Iranian ship offloaded more than 200 members of its crew to Sri Lanka on Friday after suffering an engine failure at sea, just days after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship in an Indian Ocean torpedo attack.
The IRIS Bushehr, described in previous Iranian media reports as a navy logistics ship, is being brought first to the port of Colombo, according to Sri Lanka navy spokesman Cmdr. Buddhika Sampath. Sailors are being taken to a naval base in Welisara following medical exams and immigration procedures.
“We have to understand that this is not an ordinary situation,” Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said Thursday. “It’s a request by a ship belonging to one party to enter into our port. We have to consider that according to the international treaties and conventions.”
Dissanayake added that authorities decided to take control of the IRIS Bushehr following discussions with Iranian officials and the ship’s captain, after one of its engines failed. He said some crew members would remain on board to help the Sri Lankan navy later navigate the vessel to Trincomalee on the island’s northeast coast, about 165 miles from Colombo.
The moves come after the U.S. sank the Iranian warship IRIS Dena off Sri Lanka’s coast on Wednesday.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said it was “the first sinking of an enemy ship by a torpedo since World War II.”
The Indian navy said Thursday that it had initiated search and rescue operations after receiving a distress signal from the Dena, deploying two aircraft along with a sailing training vessel. By the time the response was launched, the Sri Lankan navy had already started its own rescue efforts, it said.
The Sri Lankan navy rescued 32 sailors and recovered 87 bodies after the attack, according to The Associated Press.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said Thursday that the U.S. will “bitterly regret” striking and sinking that ship.
“The U.S. has perpetrated an atrocity at sea, 2,000 miles away from Iran’s shores,” Araqchi wrote on X. “Frigate Dena, a guest of India’s Navy carrying almost 130 sailors, was struck in international waters without warning.”
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“Mark my words: The U.S. will come to bitterly regret precedent it has set,” he added.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine told reporters at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the Iranian vessel was “effectively neutralized” in a Navy “fast attack” using a single Mark 48 torpedo.
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He added that the U.S. Navy achieved “immediate effect, sending the warship to the bottom of the sea.”
Here come the big bombs as US escalates strikes on Iran’s huge military arsenal
“Our stockpiles of defensive and offensive weapons allow us to sustain this campaign as long as we need to,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at U.S. Central Command headquarters on Thursday.
From a tactical perspective, the scale of the airstrikes unleashed in Operation Epic Fury indicates that the U.S. almost waited too long. Starting the campaign to take out Iran’s ballistic missiles and drones required strikes on almost 2,000 aimpoints in just the first few days. That’s one munition per aimpoint, and there could be thousands more to go.
It was now or never. Iran planned to stockpile missiles and drones and build a handful of nuclear weapons that no military force could reach. “Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with no shame, that they controlled 460 kilograms of 60% and they’re aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs,” U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday.
The terrifying scale of Iran’s target set went unnoticed by most of the world until last Saturday.
Imagine how difficult this job would have been in a few years — especially with Russia and China helping Iran restock.
“This operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity, meaning they would have so many short-range missiles, so many drones that no one could do anything about it because they could hold the whole world hostage,” Rubio said on Capitol Hill on Monday. “Look at the damage they’re doing now. And this is a weakened Iran … imagine a year from now,” he added.
With Iran’s command and control degraded and air defenses flattened, the southern air ingress approaches to the country are wide open. “And now, with complete control of the skies, we will be using 500-pound, 1,000-pound and 2,000-pound GPS–and laser-guided precision gravity bombs, of which we have a nearly unlimited stockpile,” Hegseth said at the Pentagon on Wednesday.
Here come the big bombs to take on hundreds of targets. Those targets include factories, weapons storage sites and every IRGC facility U.S. forces can find. And it’s all happening while a 2,000-mile arc of aerial defense continues.
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The U.S. is not running out of bombs for Operation Epic Fury. Here are seven systems seeing heavy action:
Joint Direct Attack Munition: JDAMs use GPS satellite guidance to hit precise coordinates. The combat-proven JDAM family of munitions is actually a kit. You take a Mk 82 500-pound free-fall gravity bomb, a Mk 83 1,000-pound bomb body or a Mk 84 2,000-pound bomb body, then attach a precision seeker and a tail kit with steering fins just before missions. Military munitions specialists — sometimes called AMMO troops — build the bombs before loading them onto the aircraft. In the Navy, for example, you can spot ordnance loaders on an aircraft carrier deck by their red jerseys. In 2003, U.S. fighter and bomber crews dropped 5,086 of the 2,000-pound GBU-31 JDAMs in Operation Iraqi Freedom. So yes, planners knew to stock up. A new wing kit doubled the range for the JDAM Extended Range variant. JDAMs can attack “off-axis,” meaning behind or to the side of the fighter or bomber.
GBU-39 Small Diameter Bomb: Combining precision with powerful explosives, the Small Diameter Bomb weighs 250 pounds and has a remarkable 40-nautical-mile range when launched, along with the ability to strike moving vehicles. The bomb body is advanced, with a more powerful but compact explosive that limits collateral damage. Aircrews can change coordinates in flight for this GPS-guided munition. F-22 Raptors can drop SDBs while flying supersonic.
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Patriot and THAAD: U.S. forces are leading the defense against missile and drone threats. Patriot remains the gold standard for terminal-phase intercepts, and Hegseth noted inventories were in good shape. THAAD — Terminal High Altitude Area Defense — is also widely used.
Air-to-air missiles: For drones, there are many options, starting with fighter aircraft armed with AMRAAMs (Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles) and AIM-9 Sidewinders. Drones can be tricky to detect on radar, but recent experience in Ukraine means the U.S. has fresh identifying characteristics to work with. Once in range, the slow, hot, whirring pusher engine of Iran’s Shahed drones is not difficult to target. However, Hegseth noted counter-UAS systems have been pushed forward. You knew American technology was the foundation of Ukraine’s superb air defenses, right?
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VAMPIRE and Coyote: The VAMPIRE counter-drone system’s name says it all: Vehicle-Agnostic Modular Palletized ISR Rocket Equipment. That means it can go on almost any truck and fire different missiles. The Navy rushed it to Ukraine in 2023, and since then, “VAMPIRE users have successfully shot down hundreds of enemy drones,” according to manufacturer L3Harris. Other examples include Coyote, a small drone that can launch from a sonobuoy to destroy hostile drones or loiter to disable them with electronic jamming in its “non-kinetic” variant. Both have been tested against drone swarms.
To be sure, some Standard Missile-3 Block 1A and Block 2B variants have been heavily taxed. U.S. Navy Aegis destroyers launch SM-3s for exo-atmospheric, midcourse hit-to-kill shots against Iranian ballistic missiles.
On Feb. 4, the Pentagon anticipated the need and announced Tomahawk production would be boosted to 1,000 per year, AMRAAMs to at least 1,900, and SM-6 missiles to more than 500 annually, with SM-3 production accelerating to two to four times its classified annual rate. For obvious reasons, full munitions inventories are not public information.
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“Your joint force is steady, frosty, calm and focused,” Caine said.
And they have the weapons to carry out their missions.
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