HUDSON VALLEY- In the wake of the joint U.S. and Israeli military operation against Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other senior Iranian officials, two Hudson Valley members of Congress are responding with starkly different reactions.
Representative Mike Lawler (R, NY-17) strongly supported the strikes and framed them as a critical step toward diminishing Iran’s capacity to threaten the United States and its allies.
Lawler praised the U.S. effort as decisive, saying that Khamenei’s long leadership of a regime that has openly chanted “Death to America,” supported militant proxies, and repeatedly targeted U.S. interests justified the military action. He said ending Khamenei’s influence “officially ended” a chapter of Iranian hostility and could lead to a more stable Middle East.
In public comments, Lawler also defended the administration’s handling of the situation, arguing that President Trump properly briefed Congress ahead of the operation and that military action was necessary to address the decades-long threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and support for terrorism.
Congressman Pat Ryan (D, NY-18) criticized the strikes as lacking sufficient oversight. Ryan, a frequent critic of President Trump who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, said that the President failed to obtain the necessary approval from Congress before ordering military action under the War Powers Act. Ryan has called the Commander-in-Chief a “lying, chicken-hawk President” who “beats the war drums.”
When asked about how he believes the threats from Iran should be addressed, a spokesman for Ryan pointed to a social media post on the platform “X” made by the congressman on February 20th where he urged his colleagues in the House to sign onto a War Powers Resolution he recently sponsored. According to Ryan’s social media post, the purpose of the resolution is “To force an honest conversation as a country about what comes next,” and to “Stop yet another forever war.”
In February 2021, then President Joe Biden Biden authorized U.S. airstrikes against sites in eastern Syria believed to be used by Iran-backed militia groups without explicit congressional authorization. Democrats argue, however, that past actions differ from Trump’s recent moves because they were more limited in scale.
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