Mike Johnson Breaks With Trump On Iran War: ‘We’ve Got To Wrap It Up’
Alex GriffingJul 21st, 2026, 1:52 pm
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) was asked during a Capitol Hill press conference on Tuesday at what point he will move to use congressional power to check President Donald Trump’s war in Iran. Johnson pointedly ended his reply by saying “we’ve got to wrap it up” in Iran, which many pundits and political insiders have warned is an additional threat to the GOP keeping its majorities in Congress.
Johnson’s answer appeared to be at odds with Trump, who vowed earlier in the day to continue bombing Iran indefinitely until they come to the negotiating table in good faith.
“You repeatedly said that you trust the administration to handle the war with Iran. We’re now five months in, and the U.S. troop toll has surpassed that of the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Given that, at what point are you willing to put an AUMF on the floor, or vote for a War Powers Act resolution to try and remove it?” asked an off-camera reporter.
“The administration is working very hard — the commander-in-chief and the whole Department of War — they’re working very hard to bring this to a resolution. There’s a lot of discussion about how that will be done. We’re all closely watching those developments, of course. I don’t think an AUMF is in order right now. I think we need to bring it to a resolution,” Johnson replied, adding:
Look, I think it’s important — in my personal view — for all of our international partners to have a role in this. I mean, we’ve got all of our allied nations, NATO, we’ve had the Arab countries over there, the Gulf states that are in closest proximity to Iran. Iran has now fired on all of its neighbors, and they’re turning everybody in the world into an enemy. So I think this is an important moment in history for the entire world community to decide how they want to handle this. It shouldn’t just be America’s obligation — my view is that everybody needs to play a role. So we’ll see how that develops. I think we have to allow the space to do that.
And I know this administration is working around the clock to resolve that in a way so they don’t suffer any more troop losses. This is a great tragedy — it shouldn’t happen. But it is a very important objective, one that I believe we’ve achieved, to ensure that the largest state sponsor of terrorism does not have a nuclear weapon. That would be a disaster for everybody, and everybody around the world understands that.
Now we’ve got to wrap it up.
https://www.mediaite.com/media/news/mike-johnson-breaks-with-trump-on-iran-war-weve-got-to-wrap-it-up/