The Road to War: How Trump, Netanyahu and the Broken War Powers Act Have Brought the World to the Brink

In this urgent episode of America’s Fractured Politics, host Mark Mansour unpacks the explosive crisis unfolding between Israel and Iran—and America’s dangerous role in it. From the 1953 CIA coup that set the stage for decades of hostility, to Netanyahu’s relentless campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, and Donald Trump’s unprecedented military escalation without congressional approval, this episode reveals how history, ideology, and constitutional breakdown are driving the U.S. toward war. Tune in for a critical deep dive into the Iran-Israel rivalry, the erosion of America’s war powers, and what it means for our democracy and global stability. Don’t miss this essential conversation before the next conflict ignites.

Transcript

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Welcome to America's Fractured Politics. This is a podcast for people who still believe that facts matter, for people who believe that policy has consequences, and for people who understand deep down that democracy, even when imperfect, even when battered and bruised, is still worth fighting for. I'm your host, mark Mansour. I am an attorney based in Washington DC and I've spent my career at the intersection of law, policy and politics. I've worked in government, I've worked in private practice, I've worked in advocacy, and what I've seen over and over again is that what happens in the back rooms of Congress, the fine print of legislation, shapes, lives in ways that most people will never see coming. This podcast isn't about the noise. It's not about the horse race. It's not about the latest outrage cycle on cable news. It's about substance. It's about what's happening beneath the surface, the bills that pass in the shadows, the ideologies that drive them and the human beings they affect. Today we're staring down a constitutional crisis that's unfolding in real time. Donald Trump's threats of war with Iran Wades through Benjamin Netanyahu's bombs and unchecked executive power. Has exposed the broken machinery of American warmaking. To understand the peril we're in, we have to untangle three tragedies that are tightly woven together, the poisoned roots of the US Iran relationship, the descent of Israel and Iran, and to open warfare and America's century long addiction to undeclared wars. Let's start with a coup that still haunts us. The year is 1953 in Tehran's Bazaars, A CIA operative named Kermit Roosevelt Jr. Hands out bags of cash funding riots against Iran's democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mus. Why'cause mu there to nationalize British oil? Operation Ajax approved by President Eisenhower reinstated the Shah whose US trained ox secret police, tortured dissenters in Dungeons America didn't just prop up the Shah, we armed his nuclear ambitions too. Under the Adams for Peace program, we gave Iran its first reactor and weapons grade uranium. When the 1979 revolution finally toppled the S Shah, our embassy hostages became symbols of blowback. Today's crisis isn't new, it's the ghost of 1953 demanding payment. The relationship between Iran and Israel is the story of abrupt reversals, betrayal, and bloodshed. And the early decades after Israel's founding, Iran was one of the few Muslim majority countries to recognize it. Even establishing close economic and military ties under the Shah Iranian oil flowed to Israel and Israeli engineers and companies were active in Iran. The two countries collaborated on secret military projects and direct flights connected Tel Aviv and to Iran. But this pragmatic alliance was always fragile, built more on shared regional interests and mutual suspicion of Arab neighbors than genuine trust. Everything changed. In 1979, the Islamic Revolution swept away the Shah and installed Ayatollah Khomeini who declared Israel. Quote, the little Satan cut off all diplomatic and commercial ties and handed the Israeli embassy in Teran to the PLO. Iran's new leadership didn't just sever relations. They made hostility to Israel, a core part of their ideology and foreign policy. Iran began supporting groups like Hezbollah and Lebanon, providing'em with training weapons and funding to attack Israeli and American targets. The Iranian regime call for Israel's destruction. And refused to recognize its legitimacy as a state. Israel in turn saw Iran as a rising existential threat, especially as Iran's influence grew across Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza Through its network of proxies, the 1980s and 1990s saw the relationship descend into proxy warfare. Iran's support for Hezbollah fueled years of conflict in Southern Lebanon while Israel's military interventions and assassinations. Targeted I rounding back leaders in infrastructure. The rivalry intensified after the Gulf War as Iran's nuclear ambitions became central to Israel's security concerns. Israeli leaders, especially since the 1990s, have viewed Iran's nuclear program as a red line warning repeatedly that they would not allow TE Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. Iran meanwhile has continued to fund an armed group's hostile to Israel from Hamas and Gaza to Islamic Jihad. And the Houthis in Yemen, Benjamin Netanyahu has shaped Israeli policy toward Iran more than any other prime minister For decades. He has sounded the alarm about Iran's nuclear ambitions, arguing that a nuclear armed Iran would pose an existential threat not just to Israel, but to the entire region. Netanyahu has lobbied the US and Europe to impose crippling sanctions on Iran. Opposed every diplomatic engagement and repeatedly threatened unilateral military action. Under his leadership, Israel has pursued a strategy of preemptive strikes, sabotage, and targeted assassinations. Most notably, the killing of Iranian nuclear scientists and cyber attacks like the Stuxnet worm that crippled Iran's centrifuges. But Netanyahu's approach has deservedly come under fierce criticism, both within Israel and internationally. He is using the Iran threat to distract from his own political and legal troubles, including an ongoing corruption trial and deepening unpopularity at home. Netanyahu's uncompromising stance, his willingness to escalate military conflict and his rejection of diplomatic alternatives have not only isolated Israel globally, but have also prolonged conflicts, most notably in Gaza for personal political gain. Even former Israeli prime ministers and military leaders have condemned his actions with some labeling the ongoing wars as quote unquote private political wars and accusing Netanyahu of putting his own survival above the nation's security and ethical standing. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza with tens of thousands killed and mass displacement has drawn accusations of war crimes and genocide further eroding Israel's international standing. And fueling protests both at home and abroad. Netanyahu's frequent use of accusations of antisemitism to deflect criticism whether from international bodies like the ICC or from domestic protestors has also been widely condemned as a tactic to silence legitimate descent and shield himself from accountability. European leaders and Israeli commentators alike have rebuked him for conflating criticism of Israeli policy. With antisemitism arguing that this undermines real efforts to combat hate disciples. Necessary debate. Netanyahu's approach has always been inco uncompromising. He frames Iran as the Mastermind behind nearly every threat facing Israel from rocket fire in the north to unrest in the West Bank. He has argued that any sign of weakness, any pause and pressure will embolden Tehran. This worldview has led to a policy of constant vigilance and when necessary, open confrontation. Netanyahu's government has also quietly built ties with Arab states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, United by a shared fear of Iranian expansionism. The events of June, 2025 are the latest and most dangerous escalation, yet after years of covert operations and proxy battles. Israel launched a direct and massive air campaign against Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership, including the Naans and for de facilities. Netanyahu justified the strikes as necessary to prevent Iran from reaching a nuclear weapons capability, claiming that Iran's foremost nuclear scientists and senior military officials were eliminated in the attacks. Iran responded with waves of missiles at Israeli cities. And the region teeters on the edge of all out war. This is not just a class of armies, it's a collision of deeply entrenched ideologies and strategic imperatives. Iran's regime seems itself as a vanguard of resistance against Israel in the West. While Israel under Netanyahu sees preemption and overwhelming force is the only way to ensure its survival, the result is a cycle of attack and retaliation. With each side convinced that escalation is the only path to security. Now with Trump's full throated support, Netanyahu is gone further than ever before. The US is no longer just a silent partner. It's an active participant providing air cover intelligence, and possibly even bunker buster bombs. For Israeli sorties Trump's and brains of Netanyahu's strategy marks a dangerous turn. Removing the last restraints on Israeli action and making the US complicit an award that could, can, could engulf the entire region. Meanwhile, Congress struggles to reassert its war powers as the executive branch and its foreign allies drag America deeper and to conflict. Here we come to a crucial piece of the story, the War Powers Act, and how presidents have systematically ignored it, undermining the very checks and balances. Meant to keep us out of endless war. The War Powers Act passed in 1973. In the wake of the Vietnam disaster was Congress's attempt to claw back its constitutional authority over war, the founders gave Congress, not the president, the sole power to declare war raise armies and fund military operations. The president as commander in chief, was meant to execute war, not start it. The War Powers Act requires the President to consult with Congress before sending US forces into hostilities, to notify Congress within 48 hours of any military action and to withdraw forces after 60 days unless Congress gives explicit approval. In theory, this law should prevent presidents from unilaterally dragging the nation into war. In practice, it's been ignored, bent, or outright defied by every president since Nixon. Truman called the Korean War a police action bypassing Congress entirely. Johnson used the Gulf of Tonkin resolution, a blank check, based on dubious evidence to escalate Vietnam. Reagan sent Marines to Lebanon and invaded Grenada without meaningful consultation. Clinton bomb Kosovo for 78 days, stretching the definition of hostilities until it snapped. Obama justified intervention in Libya by claiming the drone strikes and air support. Didn't amount to hostilities under the ACT and Trump both before and after the Soleimani strike, claimed that any use of force deemed in the national interest is fair game. No matter what Congress says. The courts have largely refused to intervene calling these disputes political questions. The Office of Legal Counsel has written memos so broad that almost any military action can be justified as defensive or short of war. The result is that Presidents treat the war powers act as a suggestion, not a binding law. Congress for its part has often been complicit, reluctant to assert its authority or cutoff funding, varying political backlash or accusations of weakness. The implications are profound. The erosion of congressional war powers has led to a dangerous con concentration of authority, and the executive branch presidents can now launch military actions. Risk American lives and entangle the nation in foreign conflicts. With little oversight or debate, the public is left in the dark and the line between war and peace blurred beyond recognition. The nation drifts from one undeclared war to the next Vietnam, Lebanon, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Yemen. Without clear goals, exit strategies, or accountability. On June 18th, Republicans Thomas Massey and Democrats led by hanana filed a War Powers resolution to block funding for offensive operations against Iran, forced withdrawal of US assets within 30 days, and demand intelligence disclosure on Iran's nuclear program. But the resolution faces a veto and Trump's allies mock his weakness. Meanwhile, Trump's cabinet plots next moves. Marco Rubio pushes cyber attacks on Iran's grid, Tulsi Gabbard, warns of fall flags, proper provocations, and trump's current actions of the latest and perhaps most blatant example by deploying US air, air assets alongside Israel, demanding on unconditional surrender by Iran and openly discussing joint operations without congressional authorization, he is shredding the last remnants of the War Powers Act. Congress re Congress's recent attempt to reassert itself. Filing a resolution to block funding for offensive operations against Iran. Enforce withdrawal of US assets, faces a likely veto and a White House determined to sidestep the law. If Congress cannot or will not enforce its own, enforce its own authority, the precedent is set. Future presidents of either party will have an even freer hand to wage war of will. The stakes could not be higher. A direct confrontation between Israel and Iran risks not only devastating both countries, but also drawing the US destabilizing the Middle East and triggering global economic turmoil. History's warnings are clear. The Iranis Israel rivalry once a shadow war is now a direct and open conflict policy. Rooted in preemption, deterrence, and zero tolerance for Iranian advances has set the stage for this clash. His willingness to escalate his disregard for civilian suffering and his use of war as a political shield have brought Israel to the brink of international isolation and moral crisis. And with Trump's backing, the brakes are off if this cycle of escalation continues unchecked. We may soon find ourselves in a regional war with consequences far beyond Teran or Tel Aviv. The founders gave Congress the war power not to hinder defense, but to prevent exactly this. A president and a foreign ally dragging America into war without debate Trump's madman, theatrics, threatening how many one day fleeing the G seven to plot strikes the next Mary Nixon's darkest hours. Congress must wield its ultimate weapon, the purse. Cut funding for unauthorized operations. Subpoena strike plans or accepted America has become what it once overthrew a nation where wars start with a tweet, not a vote. Trump has now imposed a two day, two week deadline for his decision. We will see what happens, but either way, we still face a moral crisis and an ethical one as well as a political one. We need to act and we need to force our congressional members to act. This is America's Fractured Politics.