Trump’s iran war hits 60 days: strategy questions and political pressure IThis Is America

[0:08] Well, this is America, and this is Birmingham, Alabama. [0:12] Despite lying at the heart of a traditionally red state, [0:15] the city itself is fairly split on the support for Donald Trump and his war with Iran. [0:21] As the conflict now goes over the two-month mark, [0:24] questions are being raised about buying into Trump's narrative of success [0:28] and whether it's benefiting the people here in America. [0:32] I'll have more on that in a minute, but first let's go to Washington, D.C. and Cyril Vanier. [0:37] Richard Gasefitt, thank you very much. [0:40] Sixty days, that is how long the U.S. president is authorized to wage war without the approval of Congress. [0:45] In Donald Trump's conflict against Iran, that deadline is May 1st, so time's up. [0:51] In theory, the U.S. president should go to Congress and get a green light if he wants to continue military action. [0:57] In practice, presidents find a workaround, and this law does not actually stop the fighting, [1:01] but it does force a moment of political reckoning. [1:05] Why has the president committed the United States to a new war, [1:08] and does it look like it's working out? [1:10] Here's how Donald Trump has addressed that over the last 60 days. [1:15] A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran. [1:23] If we didn't hit within two weeks, they would have had a nuclear weapon. [1:27] We'll be leaving in pretty much the very near future, but right now they've been decimated from every standpoint. [1:35] Their Navy's gone, their Air Force is gone, their anti-aircraft is all gone, it's all gone, their radar is all gone, their leaders are all gone. [1:45] Never know with Iran, because we negotiate with them, and then we always have to blow them up. [1:50] We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong. [1:54] We've totally defeated that country. [1:58] Ten o'clock tomorrow, we have a blockade going into effect. [2:02] That'll be ten o'clock tomorrow. [2:03] Other nations are working so that Iran will not be able to sell oil. [2:08] Iran, you're marking it down, Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. [2:12] Foreign, Iran is going along swimmingly. [2:15] We can do whatever we want. [2:17] Again, we have all the cards. [2:20] They have no military left, practically. [2:22] They have no leaders left. [2:23] We don't know who the leaders are. [2:25] Nobody knows who the leaders are. [2:26] I don't think they know who the leaders are. [2:28] They're not going to have a nuclear weapon. [2:29] They know it, and just about everybody else does. [2:32] That was over the last 60 days. [2:34] Here's what President Trump is saying now. [2:37] So, they want to make a deal, but I don't, I'm not satisfied with it, so we'll see what happens. [2:42] Do we want to go and just blast the hell out of him and finish him forever, or do we want to try and make a deal? [2:49] I mean, those are the options. [2:50] Do you want to go blast the hell out of him and finish him forever? [2:52] I prefer not. [2:54] On a human basis, I prefer not, but that's the option. [2:57] Do we want to go in there heavy and just blast him away, or do we want to do something? [3:03] They're a very disjointed unorship, as you can understand. [3:06] So, on the 60-day mark, Al Jazeera's Rosalind Jordan takes stock, not only of what the president has said publicly so far, but what he's done. [3:16] February 28th, the day the U.S. and Israel launched a war on Iran. [3:20] It wasn't supposed to take long, and the government in Tehran was supposed to collapse. [3:26] You spent up to six weeks total. [3:29] I don't know. I never reject that, whatever it takes. [3:32] Eventually, timelines changed. [3:35] Don't rush me, Jeff. [3:35] But, you know, guys like you, you want to say, oh, so we were in Vietnam like for 18 years. [3:41] However, we are in a ceasefire right now, which our understanding means the 60-day clock pauses or stops in a ceasefire. [3:48] And so, too, did the reasons for going to war. [3:52] No longer about ending Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions or its support for groups such as Hezbollah and the Houthis. [3:58] Now, it's all about trying to break Tehran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz and repairing a damaged global economy. [4:06] Soaring energy prices disrupted shipping, consumers now coping with inflation. [4:11] Another casualty, U.S.-NATO relations, because Europe won't join the fight in the Gulf. [4:18] Let's stand up and do what the Constitution requires us to do. [4:22] Trump never got congressional approval to start the war. [4:25] Some Democrats reportedly are now considering a lawsuit to force him to end it. [4:30] Meantime, the Islamic Republic still stands, despite losing many of its top leaders and much of its arsenal, and targeted by a U.S. naval blockade. [4:39] Its leaders apparently are in no hurry to negotiate with Washington, which they accuse of bargaining in bad faith. [4:47] According to the latest Reuters-Ipsos poll, all this has caused the U.S. public to sour on the war. [4:53] The percentage approving has risen, from 27 percent at the start of the war to 34 percent now. [4:59] But the percentage disapproving has soared, from 43 percent to 61 percent. [5:05] Just 25 percent think going to war was worth it, while 53 percent say no. [5:11] And Trump's favorability rating, down two points to 36 percent. [5:16] President Donald Trump has said the war in Iran probably won't last as long as World War II. [5:22] But after 60 days, it's not clear what Trump can do to wrap up a war he told Americans wouldn't take long to win. [5:29] Rosalind Jordan, Al Jazeera, Washington. [5:33] Chief U.S. correspondent Alan Fisher is at the White House, and Patty Culhane is on Capitol Hill. [5:38] So, Alan, as far as Donald Trump is concerned, what is the way forward in Iran, or what's the way out? [5:46] Well, he has a number of options. [5:47] First of all, he can accept the deal on the table, which he has already said is unacceptable. [5:52] And he's already said he doesn't want a deal that is anything like the one that Barack Obama negotiated with the Iranians, the GCPOA. [6:00] He said it must be much stronger and make sure Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon. [6:05] He can continue the blockade, so-called Operation Economic Fury, and hope that the Iranians get back to the negotiating table [6:12] and give him exactly what he wants, because he's going to try and bleed their economy. [6:17] He could resume the war. [6:19] Now, that would accept the damage that is being done to the United States economy. [6:25] But he's already said he could blast the hell out of them. [6:28] Those were the words he used. [6:29] And then he would have to set an end to it, because, remember, this was the president that was elected on the fact [6:34] that he wasn't going to get involved in what he called stupid foreign wars. [6:39] And now he finds himself fighting in the Middle East. [6:42] Or he could declare victory. [6:45] We've been hearing about it for the last five weeks, how Iran is devastated, [6:50] how it has no navy, no air force, no ability to defend itself. [6:54] So just declare war and try and move on. [6:58] And then there is the option that he doesn't do any of these things. [7:01] What he does is leave the ceasefire in place, leaves the military where it is at the moment, [7:07] and continue to monitor what the Iranians are doing. [7:10] And if there is anything that he perceives as a threat to the United States, [7:14] or perhaps to their Gulf neighbours, then take further military action then. [7:18] He has all these options open to him. [7:22] For the moment the ceasefire holds, he says there's no real prospect of negotiations. [7:27] There's nothing there that he can deal with at the moment. [7:30] But everything is really in the gift of Donald Trump. [7:33] He will make the decision, based on advice from his advisers, [7:37] but he will make the decision about where we're headed next. [7:40] Chief U.S. Correspondent Alan Fisher, thank you very much, Alan. [7:43] As we mentioned, Congress is supposed to approve military action. [7:47] But so far, that hasn't happened. [7:49] Since the U.S. started attacking Iran in late February, [7:51] there have been eight votes in Congress on the War Powers Resolution. [7:55] That's the resolution, as we explained, [7:56] to block the president's authority to wage war without their approval, without formal approval. [8:01] There have been six votes in the Senate, two in the House. [8:03] All of them have failed, which means that Congress so far has not voted to tie the president's hands. [8:08] Here's what's interesting. [8:11] Thursday's vote in the Senate saw a Republican change their position for the first time. [8:15] Susan Collins, who is in a tight race for re-election in the upcoming midterms, [8:19] broke ranks by supporting that resolution. [8:22] She says she will not support extending hostilities beyond the 60-day deadline [8:26] until the White House lays out clear and achievable goals for bringing the conflict to a close. [8:31] But President Trump, like several other presidents before him, it has to be said, [8:35] takes the view that the War Powers Resolution is unconstitutional in the first place, [8:40] because he is the commander-in-chief of the U.S. military. [8:43] It's never been sought before. [8:45] There's been numerous, many, many times, and nobody's ever gotten it before. [8:49] They consider it totally unconstitutional. [8:51] But we're always in touch with Congress. [8:54] But nobody's ever sought it before. [8:56] Nobody's ever asked for it before. [8:58] It's never been used before. [9:01] Why should we be different? [9:02] Patty Culhane is on Capitol Hill. [9:04] Patty, Democrats are against this war. [9:06] We know that. [9:06] But they don't control Congress. [9:08] Republicans do. [9:09] How much of a runway are Republicans going to give Trump to continue this war? [9:14] Well, it really depends. [9:16] I know that sounds like a bit of a flip-flop answer, but you're right. [9:18] Republicans have control of Congress. [9:20] They control the House on this side. [9:22] They control the Senate on that side. [9:24] This at the same... [9:25] And throughout his term, they have gone along with every single thing that the president has asked of them, [9:31] except for one thing, the release of the Epstein files. [9:34] They did go against him on that. [9:36] Still, offices here on Capitol Hill are being flooded with calls from angry voters [9:40] because this is really hurting Americans in their pocketbook. [9:44] And that said, the House, all of the members of the House are up for re-election in November. [9:50] Third of the Senate is up for re-election. [9:52] And just, again, I know we've talked about this poll, but it's really striking. [9:57] The Iran war is as popular as the Iraq war was at the height of violence in 2006, [10:02] and the Vietnam War in the early 70s. [10:05] So you might be thinking, well, that might move Republicans. [10:08] Well, as I mentioned, they're up for their primaries now. [10:12] They need to get their party's nomination to be able to run for re-election in November. [10:16] That's happening now. [10:17] So what number matters most from that poll? [10:21] 79%. [10:21] That's the number of Republicans who said that it was the right decision to launch the war in Iran. [10:27] As long as that number continues to stay high, it's unlikely any members of Congress, [10:31] Republican members of Congress, are going to be willing to buck the president. [10:35] Al-Shazeera's Patty Culhane on Capitol Hill. [10:37] Thank you very much, Patty. [10:39] And how is the price of war playing out in solidly red states like Alabama, for instance? [10:44] Is there any sign of the Republican faithful there becoming disenchanted? [10:48] One group in Birmingham is making a crowdfunding effort to push the anti-Trump, anti-war point home. [10:54] Richard Gaseford reports. [10:57] In a city divided by railway tracks, two very different opinions on the conflict from both sides of the political front line. [11:04] Joe Ellen's angry at the price of the war and the effect on cost of living. [11:09] With crowdfunding, she's paid for a billboard in Birmingham featuring Donald Trump and Alabama's two Republican senators who support him. [11:18] The whole thought behind the billboards is to get facts and information and, yeah, a few digs, because that's who we are. [11:25] But Philip Brown disagrees. [11:27] He's chair of Republicans in Birmingham, a leading black Trump supporter in the red state of Alabama. [11:34] How about the Ukraine war? [11:37] Let's use Biden's terminology for the Ukraine war as long as it takes. [11:42] Joe Ellen hopes her billboards will cut through to moderate Republicans. [11:45] One of the things they said was that we're trying to help the people who are against this regime. [11:50] So we start off bombing a school of 160 some odd girls and their and their teachers out of the shoot and then say we didn't do it. [12:00] I work with a congregation that is predominantly black and and probably mostly Democrat. [12:07] I live in a neighborhood that is that is the same. [12:12] You know, my wife is Democrat. [12:15] I mean, you know, it's you know, it's yeah, there's a lot of times you feel alone. [12:19] So finding agreement here, unlikely the war fueling debate with no sign of an end to the Middle East conflict coming down the tracks. [12:28] Richard Gaseford, Al Jazeera, Birmingham, Alabama. [12:31] Joining us now in the studio, David Sedney, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. [12:37] Douglas Silliman, former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and Iraq. [12:40] Thank you very much, gentlemen, to both of you for being in the studio with us. [12:43] Since we have reached the 60 day mark, the spirit of the War Powers Resolution passed in the early 70s [12:50] is that the collective judgment of the president and the Congress should come into play [12:55] when it's about a decision to to enter war or to continue a war. [13:00] Do you think that the president, Mr. Sedney, should seek approval from Congress at this point to continue his war against Iran? [13:08] Well, I personally think he should. [13:10] I think it's also clear that he won't. [13:13] Ambassador, I agree with that. [13:15] To my reading of the law, from 60 days when a conflict involving U.S. forces starts, [13:22] a president must go to the Congress to continue. [13:26] The problem is it's never really been fully implemented. [13:30] And as you have heard in your early report, the administration is redefining the timeline of the war to say [13:35] that they don't have to do this. [13:37] But even if they did have to do it, they have not yet reached their 60 days. [13:40] So I think they will continue to find excuses. [13:43] I'm being a little more impolite, perhaps, than Mr. Sedney is. [13:47] They will continue to find excuses not to approach Congress until they absolutely have to. [13:52] Well, so the U.S. Secretary of Defense has said we're not at war right now [13:56] because there's been a ceasefire in effect since April 7th. [13:59] So really, the clock, as far as he's concerned, that's his explanation, [14:03] the clock stopped counting on April 7th. [14:06] Therefore, they haven't hit the 60 day mark. [14:08] Do you agree with the actual logic behind that? [14:10] I personally don't agree with it. [14:14] But, again, what I personally think doesn't matter, [14:16] and actually what any politician thinks doesn't matter, [14:19] what really matters is the amount of support that the president can muster in Congress. [14:23] And right now, the president doesn't think he has enough support to have that vote, [14:27] because if he thought he had that support, he would go ahead and allow the vote to happen, [14:32] because in the past, when presidents have needed support from the American people for armed efforts, [14:38] they have sought that kind of report, such as in 2000, 2001, when we took action against Afghanistan. [14:46] So this is a situation where President Trump is treading a very careful line. [14:50] He's not going to go to Congress and ask, unless he's sure he can win, [14:55] and the likelihood of winning is at best 50-50. [14:58] Douglas Sullivan, do you agree that if President Trump were to ask Congress's approval [15:03] to continue this war, he might not get it? [15:07] Honestly, I don't think that that actually matters at the moment. [15:09] I think it is more a matter of the president doesn't want to be seen as asking for permission [15:14] for doing something that he believes he can do on his own authority. [15:17] You heard the statements that he made while leaving the White House. [15:20] He changed history a little bit, but nonetheless, I believe he thinks that, [15:26] as commander-in-chief, this entire law and the concept that he must go to the Congress [15:30] is unconstitutional. [15:32] I think members of Congress, even on the Republican side, would disagree. [15:36] But, again, this comes down to whether or not the president thinks that this is a win for him, [15:40] or if this is something that he might not completely win. [15:43] So, I want to bring our viewers some of the latest poll numbers [15:47] on the popularity versus unpopularity of this war. [15:50] As our correspondent, Patty Culhane, mentioned a little earlier in the program, [15:54] a poll from the Washington Post, ABC, and Ipsos shows just how unpopular [15:59] the war with Iran has become. [16:00] Overall, here's the big takeaway. [16:03] 61% of respondents say that military action against Iran was a mistake. [16:07] 61%. [16:08] Only 19% say that U.S. actions have been successful. [16:12] And the rest are split between those who think the U.S. has been unsuccessful so far [16:16] and those who feel it's just too early to tell. [16:18] Meanwhile, only 22% think that the president's actions are consistent with his campaign promises [16:24] not to involve the U.S. in new wars abroad. [16:27] Right now, the Iran war is as unpopular as the Iraq war in 2006 and the Vietnam war in the early 1970s. [16:35] David Sedney, when you hear that, [16:38] Iran war as unpopular as the Iraq war and the Vietnam war, [16:42] widely considered debacles in U.S. foreign policy, does that give you pause? [16:49] Well, it not only gives me pause, but it gives the Republican Party and President Trump pause. [16:54] Because the big issue here is really not what Congress does or the votes you're talking about, [16:58] is what's going to happen in the midterms. [17:00] Right now, President Trump has a Republican majority that he controls in both the House and the Senate. [17:04] If he loses either one or both of those in November, as now seems likely, [17:10] then his ability to do anything on his agenda, whether it's foreign policy or domestic policy, [17:14] will be severely limited. [17:15] So, President Trump is balancing right now between achieving what he wants, [17:21] as Ambassador Suleiman just said, he wants this war to continue, he wants this war to be won, [17:26] but also the prospect that he might be so hamstrung in the last two years of his reign [17:31] that he would not be able to achieve anything and might well face impeachment. [17:36] Since you mentioned the midterms and how that could potentially hamstring the president's ability [17:40] to conduct even foreign policy, if we were six months from now in a scenario in the Iran war, [17:48] similar to where we are now, and that's only one scenario among many others, one hypothesis, [17:51] I recognize that, but if we were kind of where we are now in November, do you think, [17:58] and the Democrats won the midterms, what would change as far as the Iran war? [18:03] Well, I think the Democrats, if they had control of both the House and the Senate, [18:09] they would be able to choke off the funding for the war and thereby bring it to an end. [18:14] Ambassador, does that mean Donald Trump needs to have this wrapped up one way or another before the midterms? [18:21] Well, I think Donald Trump wants to have this wrapped up and be able to declare victory [18:25] and walk away from the war well before the midterms, [18:28] because what is likely to happen, given the continued strait of Hormuz closure, [18:34] the likely increase in oil prices steadily until not only the strait is reopened, [18:39] but until the international oil markets return to normal, [18:42] is that the price of gasoline for Americans, the price of fertilizer for farmers, [18:48] the price of life for Americans will continue to increase slowly. [18:52] And what is interesting is, the United States is probably the country that is least economically [18:58] affected by this war in the entire world, because we have such a large economy [19:02] and can provide a large chunk of our own energy. [19:06] President Trump, if he can wrap up the war and declare victory several months before November, [19:12] he may be able to pull out victories in the midterms for Republicans. [19:16] The longer that the price of gasoline continues to pump up, [19:20] the longer that the price of commodities grown in the United States goes up because of [19:25] rising costs for production and shipping, the more likely it is that Republicans will lose more seats [19:31] in November. [19:32] So he'd like to wrap this up quickly and be able to declare victory. [19:36] 60 days into this war with Iran, I'd like your assessment of how the U.S. is doing so far. [19:42] And I'm just going to lay it out briefly, some of the things that Donald Trump has framed [19:46] as victories in the Iran war. Here they are. [19:49] The president says that the U.S. has achieved regime change in Iran because [19:52] joint U.S.-Israeli attacks have killed many senior officials, [19:55] starting with the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. [19:59] Trump says that Iran's navy has been totally destroyed, [20:01] but he also stated that Iran was still firing on ships in the Strait of Hormuz just recently. [20:06] The president insisted that the U.S. had total control of the skies over Iran, [20:10] but last month, Tehran shot down an American jet, forcing a rescue mission, [20:14] and another jet was damaged so badly that the pilots had to eject before [20:17] allowing their plane to crash. [20:19] Trump also says that fuel prices, you just heard about that, fuel prices will fall quickly when [20:24] the fighting stops and the Strait of Hormuz reopens. [20:27] But his own energy secretary warned recently that gas prices may not come back down to pre-war levels [20:32] until next year. [20:34] So, David Sedney, right now, 60 days in, what is your assessment of how this war has been prosecuted [20:42] and how close it is to reaching the stated, the goals stated by this administration? [20:47] Well, as you've laid out, really, across the board, those goals have really not been achieved. [20:52] In terms of regime change, there's no regime change in Iran. [20:56] It's still the same regime, and many analysts say it's a more hardline, [21:00] more anti-U.S. regime than there was before the killing of the former senior leader. [21:04] Secondly, on their military capabilities, while President Trump has claimed they've been entirely [21:11] decimated, obliterated, etc., in fact, Iran was continuing to be able to fire drones and [21:17] ballistic missiles up until the ceasefire, and in the time since the ceasefire was put [21:21] in place, is undoubtedly building its capabilities up even more. [21:25] That's not to... [21:26] It's also not to even look at the possible assistance that Iran may be getting from Russia [21:31] and China, who have a vested interest in prolonging the war and humiliating the United States. [21:35] And then, finally, on the issue of gas prices, given the shut-ins of oil in the Gulf, [21:41] the disruption to the transportation networks, according to oil analysts, there's no way oil [21:46] prices will go down to anywhere near what they were before the war in the next six months. [21:50] So, I would say, across the board, President Trump has lost the facts. [21:55] The problem for President... for American people is, President Trump doesn't need to have the facts. [22:01] He has been able to pull the wool over the eyes of the Americans, of the American people, on many issues. [22:07] So, as Ambassador Suleiman just said, he may declare victory even if he's lost. [22:11] And then it becomes a matter of who controls the information to the American people. [22:16] Do the American people believe what's actually happening? [22:19] Or do they believe what President Trump, the ultimate salesman, is going to try and tell them? [22:23] Ambassador Suleiman, do you agree? [22:25] I mean, the general assessment here from David Sedney is that the U.S. currently not winning the war, [22:30] not checking its own boxes, not achieving what it set out to do. [22:34] Do you agree with that? [22:35] Well, I think the problem from the very beginning is that there was not a clear strategic goal. [22:40] The president has laid out, in addition to the ones that you just named, [22:44] getting rid of all Iranian ballistic missiles and drones, stopping support for Iranian proxy forces, [22:50] providing retribution for the thousands of Iranians who were killed by security forces during the demonstrations in Iran earlier this year. [22:58] What is the actual goal? [23:00] What I think is probably the biggest strategic loss in this entire war is that the Strait of Hormuz is now closed, [23:08] causing economic repercussions around the world. [23:11] This does not appear to have even been in the calculations of the administration, [23:15] but it is now the number one goal that they are trying to accomplish. [23:18] So, not only have they not completely achieved any of the goals that they have laid out publicly, [23:24] another goal has been added on top of that. [23:26] And the Iranians have essentially told the United States, [23:32] this is going to be the goal you're going to work on, to open the Strait of Hormuz. [23:35] So, I think that strategically, we have gone backwards a step and have made marginal progress on the other ones. [23:41] I think, for the president, if he can get a deal with Tehran, [23:47] which he can say is better than the deal that Barack Obama got in the JCPOA in 2015, [23:53] he can self-assuredly walk away from this, declare victory, and move on to whatever is going to be next. [24:00] Short of that, I think he's going to be in this for a much longer time. [24:04] David, note you disagree. David Sedney? [24:05] I don't think the JCPOA and that kind of what, for many Americans, is irrelevant verbiage is important. [24:13] What is really important to Americans is the price of gasoline. [24:16] And if that price of gasoline stays high, as analysts that I have been talking with believe, [24:22] that will happen regardless of when the Strait of Hormuz reopens, [24:26] President Trump is going to lose the midterms. [24:28] I think the odds on the prediction sites right now are increasingly in favor of that happening. [24:33] And I think the chances of President Trump successfully pulling off a claim of victory, [24:38] when actually he is lost, are diminishingly small. [24:42] But you say that the Iran nuclear deal, the one signed by Obama more than 10 years ago, [24:47] is probably not relevant to Americans today. [24:49] But do you agree or disagree with the prevailing view that it is relevant to Trump in the sense that it is a benchmark, [24:55] and he wants to do no worse than that, and preferably better than that, if he were to make a deal with Iran? [25:01] Well, it's relevant to him, but it's also, I think, even more important, [25:04] it's relevant to the Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, [25:08] who I think in many ways is Trump's biggest audience here. [25:10] As long as Netanyahu thinks that Trump has done better than Obama, [25:17] Trump will be able to try and sell the deal. [25:20] But it's something that's, I think, not well recognized, [25:23] the influence that Prime Minister Netanyahu personally has had on President Trump's evaluation [25:29] of what should be the objectives in this war. [25:32] Yeah, we're at the 60-day mark. [25:34] That forces, as we said at the top of the show, a political reckoning. [25:37] It certainly raises the question of whether the war is going in the U.S.'s favor. [25:42] For the moment, the momentum of this does not seem to be going in the administration's favor. [25:47] But they keep arguing that give them more time, [25:49] and they can get to either a deal or maybe a military victory. [25:52] Donald Trump saying that, again, just a few hours ago. [25:55] That's where we are now. [25:56] We're going to leave it at that for now. [25:57] But I want to thank our guest, David Sedney, former U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. [26:01] Douglas Silliman, former U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait and Iraq. [26:04] Thank you very much to both of you. [26:05] Thank you. [26:06] The American public was told that the war would last weeks, not months. [26:10] And now, two months in, social media users are voicing their impatience. [26:14] Here's Heidi Jo Castro. [26:15] The clock is ticking on what was formerly the Trump Hotel in Washington. [26:19] The president sold this hotel when he was out of office. [26:22] But its iconic clock tower continues to mark time as the war with Iran drags on. [26:28] Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren pointed out the costs as these hours pass, writing on X. [26:34] 13 Americans have been killed and hundreds more are injured. [26:37] We're spending $1 billion in taxpayer funds a day. [26:41] Gas is more than $4 per gallon. [26:43] This is the cost of Trump's war. [26:45] Republican Senator Susan Collins emphasized the War Powers Act and its clear 60-day deadline for Congress to either authorize or end U.S. involvement in foreign hostilities. [26:57] That deadline is not a suggestion. [26:59] It is a requirement, she writes. [27:02] And what about regular Americans? [27:03] The war is unpopular, as we've told you. [27:06] And on social media, many say it's also boring. [27:10] People are already stopped talking about it. [27:12] Another forever war loading. [27:14] We were told weeks, not months. [27:16] And too many wars that don't affect people severely news are making the general public exhausted. [27:22] So a collective shoulder shrug when it comes to the future of Iran, but concern about high gas prices at home, that is where Americans stand 60 days in. [27:33] Heidi Jo Castro, thank you very much. [27:34] That's all from the team here in Washington. [27:36] We'll hand back to Al Jazeera's global headquarters in Doha. [27:39] First, though, back to Richard Gaysford. [27:41] Thank you. [27:43] Well, thanks, Cyril. [27:43] Don't forget, wherever you are in the world, you can always watch the latest edition of This Is America, Monday to Friday's 1830 GMT. [27:51] That is 2.30 p.m. Eastern time here in the United States. [27:56] But from here in Birmingham, Alabama, it is goodbye for now.