Commentary Before and After Attack on Iran
Confronting an Unauthorized, Illegal War
Note from the Editor, by Paul Barker
On 28 February 2026 President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu launched a large scale air war of choice against Iran. President Trump did not seek, let alone receive, congressional approval for launching the war. Neither did he seek nor receive authorization from the UN for the war. The justifications given for the war are inconsistent, misleading and often false. As with the 12-day war in June 2025, this war was launched while promising negotiations were ongoing, negotiations in which the Iranians were offering even more concessions on their nuclear program than they had agreed to in the JCPOA a decade earlier. By ignoring and thus violating both US and international law, Trump and Netanyahu are normalizing aggressive and unprovoked wars which may well shatter more countries in the years to come.
In recent days there has been no shortage of news and commentary on the new war, some much better informed than others. This special edition of the PCIA Advocacy Bulletin seeks to share some of the better commentary and suggestions for advocacy action. While many columnists and commentators are highly critical of the actions taken by Netanyahu and Trump in starting this war of choice, none of them support or defend the current government of Iran, its draconian human rights record at home or its menacing foreign policy adventures abroad.
It is hard to put the war genie back in the bottle, but somehow we need to work for a world where the rule of international law is respected and enforced. Accordingly, we must demand that Congress reclaim its responsibility for war-making decisions. In the coming week the Senate and House will vote on an Iran War Powers Resolution (WPR) and demand an end to this unauthorized war. Senators Tim Kaine and Rand Paul are co-sponsors in the Senate and Ro Khana and Thomas Massie in the House. The push for a WPR is a bipartisan effort. Urge your Senators and Representative to support the WPR.