Demonstrators hold a protest against the war on Iran next in Times Square in New York City on 22 March 2026. Photograph: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images View image in fullscreen Demonstrators hold a protest against the war on Iran next in Times Square in New York City on 22 March 2026. Photograph: Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images Analysis Trumpβs Iran war messaging is not winning over Americans β or their representatives Joseph Gedeon in Washington Trump, still negotiating to conclude the war, claims itβs already over. Some Republican lawmakers have had enough Donald Trump has two things to say about his war with Iran. The first is that itβs already over. And second, a symbolic congressional vote to end it β carried by four members of his own party β is a stab in the back that could derail the peace talks heβs conducting for the war thatβs already over. By a 215-208 margin on Wednesday, the US House of Representatives voted to direct the president to withdraw US forces from hostilities with Iran, the first time either chamber has passed such a measure in the little over three months since Operation Epic Fury began on 28 February. By Thursday morning, Trump was on Truth Social calling the vote βunpatrioticβ and blaming it on βTrump Derangement Syndromeβ. US House passes war powers resolution to curb Trumpβs authority in Iran Read more The four Republicans who crossed the aisle, each with different ideologies, donβt exactly fit the bill for such a diagnosis. Thomas Massie of Kentucky is a libertarian-leaning constitutionalist who has opposed the war from day one, lost his primary to a Trump-backed challenger, and has, in Trumpβs estimation, nothing left to lose. Warren Davidson of Ohio is a West Point graduate, former army ranger, and ex-Freedom Caucus member who voted against the war with Massie in March, but flipped back until recently. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, a former FBI agent representing Philadelphiaβs suburbs, is well known as a moderate who framed his vote in the plainest possible terms βYou either follow the law, or you change the law,β he said. βYou canβt violate the law. Thatβs not an option.β Tom Barrett of Michigan voted in March against a war powers resolution , saying Trump had βearned the opportunity to resolve this conflict quicklyβ. By May, however, he had changed his mind, citing the economic pain hitting his constituents. All four lawmakers coalesced for last nightβs vote. But none of this has stopped the administration from declaring, with some confidence, that the war is already over. Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, told Congress this week that Operation Epic Fury had βconcludedβ. The Trump administration insists the US is now only conducting βcompletely defensiveβ strikes. And yet gas prices are averaging close to $4.24 per gallon nationwide, per AAA , and nearly $6 in California. The strait of Hormuz, through which roughly 20% of the worldβs oil normally flows, remains effectively closed, three mo