Published 12:08 IST, January 5th 2020
Bernie Sanders introduces law to block military funding aimed at starting war with Iran
Bernie Sanders and Ro Khanna introduced a law to block funding for any military budget aimed at starting a war against Iran without Congressional approval.
- World News
- 3 min read
Bernie Sanders and fellow Democrat Ro Khanna introduced legislation to block funding for any military budget aimed at starting a war against Iran without Congressional approval. Sanders, a Democratic primary for 2020 presidential elections, had condemned US President Donald Trump’s decision to kill General Qassem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s elite Quds Force.
“Today, we are seeing a dangerous escalation that brings us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East,” said Sanders and Khanna in a joint statement.
“A war with Iran could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars and lead to even more deaths, more conflict, more displacement in that already highly volatile region of the world,” the statement read.
Both leaders said that Congress has an opportunity to change course after authorising a disastrous $738 billion military budget that placed no restrictions on Trump from starting an unauthorised war with Iran. They further added that Congressional inaction in the face of the threat of a catastrophic and “unconstitutional” Middle East conflict is unacceptable.
'Loss of lives in Iraq war'
Earlier, Sanders said that he had voted against the war in Iran in 2002 since he feared greater destabilization of the region which “unfortunately turned out to be true”. The 78-years-old US Senator from Vermont expressed anguish over the death of around 4,500 American troops during the war with Iraq and said that the current escalation will lead to another disastrous war in the Middle East. Khanna, in a separate tweet, accused the White House of building the case for war as it had blocked the amendment of National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) aimed at preventing war with Iran.
On January 3, the United States announced that it killed Qasem Soleimani in a drone strike at Baghdad’s international airport. After Soleimani’s death, Trump said that the United States terminated him because he was plotting “imminent and sinister attacks on American diplomats and military personnel”. The US President has now threatened Iran with "brand new beautiful equipment" if it attacks any US citizens or American Base.
Updated 12:08 IST, January 5th 2020