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Welcome to the NewsHour.
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Iran today submitted a new proposal to the U.S. aimed at breaking a diplomatic deadlock.
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But President Trump rejected it and said he's reviewing new military options to relaunch
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It's been 60 days since the war began, which means today is a legal deadline for the
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administration to seek congressional authorization.
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But the White House informed Congress it didn't need to get its approval, because the
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war had been, quote, terminated during the current ceasefire.
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Thanks, your friends.
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Here he's been following all of this, so Nick, tell us more about what the president
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On the President, not only rejected Iran's new proposal, he expressed a deep skepticism
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that Iran could ever submit a proposal that would satisfy him.
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So they want to make a deal, but I don't, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what
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They've made strides, but I'm not sure if they ever get there.
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This tremendous, this score, this tremendous, they have a tremendous problem getting along
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with each other in Iran.
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So on the one hand, no deal and little prospect for a deal, but the president also acknowledged
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yesterday receiving a briefing from his top Middle East commander, Admiral Brad Cooper,
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what President Trump told Fox News is Peter Ducey were two main options.
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Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of him and finish him forever, or do we
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want to try and make a deal and then go to the up to do you want to go, blast the hell
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out of him and revert it or not?
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On a human basis, I prefer not, but that's the up to do we want to go in there, heavy and
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just blast them away.
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Or do we want to do something?
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They're a very disjointed leadership, as you can understand, being a very disjointed,
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I mean, they're not getting along with each other and it puts us in a bad position.
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One group wants to make a certain deal, the other group wants to make a certain deal,
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including the hardliners.
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So all that said, a U.S. official tells me on it tonight, the options are actually not
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as black and white as the president proposes.
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This official says there is on the one hand little appetite by the administration to restart
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the war in full, but at the same time, there is an impatience with what this official
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called Iran dragging its feet.
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So as always, there are multiple military options, including what the official said was one
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that would try to accelerate a deal without blowing up the possibility of a deal and without
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restarting the war in full.
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And what that could be is trying to reopen the strait, trying to reduce Iran's ability
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to launch drones, launch cruise missiles, at ships, at ports in the strait.
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And while the economic pressure, while the diplomatic efforts would continue and remember,
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the president and the military have many options, because there are still many U.S. military
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assets in and around the Persian Gulf.
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And there's still a U.S. blockade that the president and U.S. other officials really
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believe are really choking Iran's economy.
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So Iran's proposal that the president rejected, what do we know about what was in that proposal?
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We don't know exactly, but for the president's, including not enough of a change from the
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proposal that Iran submitted just last weekend that I reported, according to a regional
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and Iranian official, was that if that Iran would reopen the strait, if the U.S. lifts
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its blockade, unfreezes Iranian assets, and crucially, pauses any negotiation of Iran's
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President said today, Iran is asking for things that I can't agree to, but didn't provide
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So, as you mentioned, today is that 60-day deadline required by the War Powers Act for
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the White House to get congressional authorization to continue that war, they say they don't need
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Well, the president argued today the War Powers Act is unconstitutional, which is an argument
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that every president, as you know, since Richard Nixon, since 1973 has made.
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But the president's lawyers are taking it seriously, apparently, because the White House released
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this letter that it sent to Congress, and it said this, quote, there has been no exchange
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of fire between United States forces and Iran since April 7, 2026, the hostilities that
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began on February 28, 2026 have terminated, terminated, even though, of course, I'm going
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to say, we just talked about how the president said himself that he could restart the
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We spoke to Harold Coe, professor of Yale Law School and President Obama's former top
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State Department lawyer, and he said it's as if the president is trying to rewrite the
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war powers resolution and add a pause button.
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It's misunderstanding the text of the War Powers resolution, which says that 60 days after
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U.S. armed forces are introduced, which is 60 days after February 28, the president shall
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terminate any use of the U.S. armed forces that were made at that time.
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In other words, pull all the troops that have been sent in out.
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He's not doing that.
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This is not a shot clock in basketball.
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It's the game clock.
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It's ticking down from 60 days, and those 60 days are up.
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Now, all of a said, as of now, Republicans in Congress have not been willing to enforce
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the war powers resolution.
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There have been six votes so far that would have required the administration to withdraw
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all U.S. military forces from war in Iran unless Congress authorized the use of military
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All six votes have failed, but our colleague, Lisa Desjardins, has been reporting that there
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is private concern, private concern among Republicans that could become public votes against
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the administration if the president were to relaunch full combat operations.
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And Harold Coe argues the point here, the bottom line point here, is that even if Congress
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isn't willing today to enforce the War Powers Act, it maintains the threat to do so.
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The decision points will mount.
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What this is like is when you've parked in a parking space and time is up.
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You may not get a ticket for a while, but you're certainly under pressure to figure out
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some kind of solution to legalize it or to get out.
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And that's what he's feeling.
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I mean, Milenick, some news lately about U.S. troops in Germany.
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The spokesperson for Pete Hegses, Secretary of Defense, has confirmed this afternoon to
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me and other reporters that the U.S. will withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany.
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They're about 36,000 or so troops in Germany right now, so 70,000 troops in Europe.
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So a portion of what the U.S. has in Europe, of course, coming after a bit of a war of words
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between President Trump and Chancellor of Germany, Frederick Mertz, merged criticizing the
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President for not having an exit plan, President Chris sizing those comments.
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And here you go, 5,000 troops withdraw over the next 6 to 12 months.
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Next, Jeffrey, beginning our coverage tonight.