For War Powers Resolution purposes, the United States' hostilities with Iran that started in February have "terminated", a senior Trump administration official has told US media.
"Both parties agreed to a 2-week ceasefire on Tuesday, April 7 that has since been extended," the official said late on Thursday.
"There has been no exchange of fire between US Armed Forces and Iran since Tuesday, April 7."
This interpretation would allow the White House to avoid the need to seek congressional approval.
The statement furthers an argument laid out by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during testimony in the Senate earlier on Thursday, when he said the ceasefire in US-Israel war on Iran effectively paused the war.
Under that rationale, the administration has not yet met the requirement mandated by a 1973 law to seek formal approval from Congress for military action that extends beyond 60 days.
While the ceasefire has since been extended, Iran maintains its chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, and the US Navy is maintaining a blockade to prevent Iran's oil tankers from getting out to sea.
Under the War Powers Resolution, the law that sought to constrain a president’s military powers, President Donald Trump had until Friday to seek congressional authorisation or cease fighting.
The law also allows an administration to extend that deadline by 30 days.
'Deadline is not a suggestion'
Democrats have pushed the administration for formal approval of the Iran war, and the 60-day mark would likely have been a turning point for a swath of Republican lawmakers who backed temporary action against Tehran but insisted on congressional input for something longer.
"That deadline is not a suggestion; it is a requirement," said Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, who voted on Thursday in favour of a measure that would end military action in Iran since Congress hadn’t given its approval.
She added that "further military action against Iran must have a clear mission, achievable goals, and a defined strategy for bringing the conflict to a close."
During testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday, Hegseth said it was the administration’s "understanding" that the 60-day clock was on pause while the two countries were in a ceasefire.
Katherine Yon Ebright, counsel at the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program and an expert on war powers, said that interpretation would be a "sizeable extension of previous legal gamesmanship" related to the 1973 law.
"To be very, very clear and unambiguous, nothing in the text or design of the War Powers Resolution suggests that the 60-day clock can be paused or terminated," she said.
Other presidents have argued that the military action they’ve taken was not intense enough or was too intermittent to qualify under the War Powers Resolution.
But Trump’s war in Iran would certainly not be such a case, Ebright said, adding that lawmakers need to push back against the administration on that kind of argument.
