By STEPHEN GROVES, LISA MASCARO and MARY CLARE JALONICK

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Senate is headed toward a vote Wednesday on President Donald Trump’s decision to embark on a war against Iran, an extraordinary test in Congress for a conflict that has rapidly spread across the Middle East with no clear U.S. exit strategy.

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The legislation, known as a war powers resolution, gives lawmakers an opportunity to demand congressional approval before any further attacks are carried out. The Senate resolution and a similar bill being voted on in the House later this week face unlikely paths through the Republican-controlled Congress and would almost certainly be vetoed by Trump even if they were to pass.

Nonetheless, the votes marked a weighty moment for lawmakers. Their decisions on the five-day-old war — which Trump entered without congressional approval — could determine the fates of U.S. military members, countless other lives and the future of the region.

“Wars without clear objectives do not remain small. They get bigger, bloodier, longer and more expensive,” said Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer at a news conference Tuesday. “This is not a necessary war. It’s a war of choice.”

Trump administration scrambles for congressional support

After launching a surprise attack against Iran on Saturday, Trump has scrambled to win support for a conflict that Americans of all political persuasions were already wary of entering. Trump administration officials have been a frequent presence on Capitol Hill this week as they try to reassure lawmakers that they have the situation under control.

“We are not going to put American troops in harm’s way,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters in a raucous news conference at the Capitol Tuesday.

But six U.S. military members were killed over the weekend in a drone strike in Kuwait.

Trump has also not ruled out deploying U.S. ground troops. He has said he is hoping to end the bombing campaign within a few weeks, but his goals for the war have shifted from regime change to stopping Iran from developing nuclear capabilities to crippling its navy and missile programs.

“I think they are achieving great success with what they’ve done so far,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Tuesday, adding that what happens next in the country will be “largely up to the Iranian people.”

Almost all Republican senators were readying to vote Wednesday against the war powers resolution to halt military action, but a number still expressed hesitation at the idea of deploying troops on the ground in Iran.

“I don’t think the American people want to see troops on the ground,” said Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., as he exited a classified briefing Tuesday. He added that Trump administration officials “left open that possibility,” but it wasn’t an option they were emphasizing.

Lawmakers to go on record

The votes in Congress this week represented potentially consequential markers of just where lawmakers stand on the war as they look ahead to midterm elections and the consequences of the conflict.

“Nobody gets to hide and give the president an easy pass or an end-run around the Constitution,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat leading the war powers resolution. “Everybody’s got to declare whether they’re for this war or against it.”

Republican leaders have successfully, though narrowly, defeated a series of war powers resolutions pertaining to several other conflicts that Trump has entered or threatened to enter. This one, however, is different.

Unlike Trump’s military campaigns against alleged drug boats or even Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the attack on Iran represents an open-ended conflict that is already ricocheting across the region. For Republicans who are used to operating in a political party dominated by Trump and his promises of keeping the U.S. out of foreign entanglements, the moment represented a bit of whiplash.

“War is ugly, it always has been ugly, but we’re taking out a regime that has been trying to attack us for quite some time,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, an Oklahoma Republican.

Meanwhile, Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who has long pushed Trump to engage overseas, argued that the widening conflict represented an opportunity for Arab and European countries to join in the fight against Iran and the militant groups it supports.

“I don’t mind people being on record as to whether or not they think this is a good idea,” he told reporters, but also argued that too much power over the military was ceded to Congress in the War Powers Act, which mandates that presidents must withdraw troops from a conflict within 90 days if there is no congressional authorization.

House vote looms

On the other side of the Capitol, House leaders were also readying for an intense debate over the war followed by a vote Thursday.

“I do believe we have the votes to defeat it, I certainly hope we do,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said after an all-member briefing on Tuesday night.

Meanwhile, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said he expected a strong showing from Democrats in favor of the war powers resolution.

As lawmakers emerged from a closed-door briefing Tuesday night, Rep. Gregory Meeks, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, implored the Trump administration to “come to Congress” and speak directly to the American people about the rationale for the war.

His voice filled with emotion as he said, “Our young men and women’s lives are on the line.”

By SUMAN NAISHADHAM and JOSEPH WILSON

MADRID (AP) — Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez again criticized the U.S. and Israel’s military actions in Iran, standing firm on Wednesday against trade threats from Washington and warning that the war in the Middle East risked “playing Russian roulette” with millions of lives.

“We are not going to be complicit in something that is bad for the world and is also contrary to our values ​​and interests, just out of fear of reprisals from someone,” Sánchez said in a televised address.

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President Donald Trump on Tuesday threatened to end U.S. trade with Spain because of Spain’s refusal to allow the U.S. to use joint military bases in the country in its attacks on Iran.

Sánchez has called the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran an “unjustifiable” and “dangerous” military intervention.

It’s not clear how Trump would cut off trade with Spain, which is a member of the European Union. The EU negotiates trade on behalf of all its 27 member states.

On Wednesday, Sánchez expressed concern that the attacks on Iran could lead to another costly military quagmire in the Middle East, similar to the past American interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“In short, the position of the government of Spain can be summarized in four words,” Sánchez said. “No to the war.”

The EU said Wednesday it would protect its interests and work to stabilize its trade relationship with the U.S, with which it struck a trade deal last year after months of economic uncertainty over Trump’s tariff blitz.

“We stand in full solidarity with all member states and all its citizens and, through our common trade policy, stand ready to act if necessary to safeguard EU interests,” said European Commission spokesperson Olof Gill.

After Spain denied U.S. use of its bases, Trump on Tuesday said “we could use their base if we want,” referencing the Rota and Morón installations in southern Spain that the U.S. and Spain share, but which remain under Spanish command. “We could just fly in and use it,” Trump said. “Nobody’s going to tell us not to use it, but we don’t have to.”

Tuesday’s threats from Washington were just the latest instance of the U.S. president wielding the threat of tariffs or trade embargoes as punishment. The U.S. Supreme Court last month struck down Trump’s far-reaching global tariffs, saying emergency powers do not allow the president to unilaterally impose sweeping tariffs.

However, Trump maintains that the court allows him to instead impose full-scale embargoes on other nations of his choosing.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Spain has not had any direct contact with the U.S. since Trump’s criticisms, Economy Minister Carlos Cuerpo said Wednesday.

“I want to send a message of calm,” Cuerpo told Spanish radio station Cadena Ser. “Beyond those comments (by Trump), there have not been any more moves (by the U.S.).”

Spain’s main business groups expressed concerns over the U.S. trade threat, calling the U.S. a “key partner from an economic and political standpoint.”

“We trust that our trade relations will ultimately not be affected in any way,” the Spanish business chambers CEOE, CEPYME and ATA said Tuesday.

Last year, Spain’s central bank issued a report that concluded Europe’s fourth-largest economy was relatively cushioned compared to the EU average when it came to exposure to tariffs by Trump.

Spain’s exports and imports with the U.S. accounted for 4.4% of GDP, the Bank of Spain said, while trade with the U.S. for the EU as a whole was 10.1%.

Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez speaks during a panel discussion at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, Saturday, Feb. 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)

Exports of Spanish goods to the U.S. accounted for 1% of Spain’s GDP, or $18.6 billion, making it Spain’s sixth largest export market for goods, the bank concluded. The Southern European nation’s main exports to the U.S. include pharmaceutical products, olive oil refined gas and electrical transformers, according to the Observatory of Economic Complexity.

Spain’s position on the Iran conflict is the latest flare-up in its relationship with the Trump administration.

Spain was an outspoken critic of Israel’s war in Gaza and attracted Trump’s ire last year when it backed out of NATO’s pledge to increase defense spending by members to 5% of GDP. At the time, Spain said it could meet its estimated defense needs by spending less — just 2.1% of its GDP — a move that Trump roundly criticized and also threatened with tariffs in response.

Wilson reported from Barcelona. Associated Press journalist Sam McNeil in Brussels contributed to this report.

By BASSEM MROUE and KAREEM CHEHAYEB

BEIRUT (AP) — Israel’s military ordered on Wednesday residents of dozens of border villages in southern Lebanon to evacuate “immediately” as airstrikes on suburbs of Beirut intensified and Hezbollah claimed more attacks.

Lebanon was dragged early Monday into the war in the Middle East, which erupted following U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, when the Iranian-backed Hezbollah group fired rockets and drones into northern Israel, triggering Israeli retaliatory airstrikes on different parts of the country that killed more than 50 people and wounded about 300.

The conflict also displaced tens of thousands of people from southern Lebanon, the eastern Bekaa Valley and Beirut’s southern suburbs.

Israeli tanks maneuver near the Israel-Lebanon border, in northern Israel, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)

People in southern Lebanon ordered to immediately move north

The Israeli military issued a statement Wednesday telling people living in dozens of villages in southern Lebanon close to the border with Israel to evacuate and move “immediately” north of the Litani River.

The Israeli army’s Arabic spokesperson warned on X that if people decide to move south of the river, they will be endangering their lives.

The area south of the Litani River, about 8% of the size of Lebanon, is mostly along the border with Israel. The Lebanese government says it has cleared the area of Hezbollah’s military presence there over the past months.

The order came after airstrikes overnight on the predominantly Christian southeastern suburb of Hazmieh that struck a hotel. Others hit the towns of Aramoun and Saadiyat just south of Beirut’s international airport, killing six and wounding eight. Another strike hit the eastern city of Baalbek, killing six people and wounding 15, according to state media.

The four airstrikes came without a warning in advance, which usually implies targeted assassinations. Security officials speaking on condition of anonymity in line with regulations said the man targeted in Hazmieh was a local official in Beirut’s southern suburb of Ghobeiri who got wounded.

“We live in a country where a missile can fall on your head at any moment,” said Maggie Shibli, wife of the owner of the Hotel Comfort in a Hazmieh neighborhood that was struck early Wednesday.

Abbas Najdeh, who was displaced from the southern port city of Tyre and was staying at the hotel, said: “We were sleeping then suddenly I, my children and my wife were thrown away.”

Also Wednesday, the Israeli military issued several warnings to people to evacuate buildings in Beirut’s southern suburbs, which were struck shortly afterward.

Hezbollah said Wednesday that it carried out several attacks on Israel, including two in which the group claimed that it used precision-guided missiles.

A Lebanese soldier passes in front of a damaged hotel that was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Hazmieh, east of Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, March 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

Some are worried the shelling may lead to an Israeli ground invasion

The warning for people to leave the area south of the Litani River came a day after Israel sent troops into southern Lebanon for the first time since a cease-fire ended a 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war in November 2024.

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It was not immediately clear if Israel is preparing for a ground invasion. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported Israeli artillery shelling on several Lebanese villages along the border, including Aid al-Shaab and Beit Lif.

In eastern Lebanon, the main border crossing with Syria was briefly closed Wednesday after Lebanese officials received a warning of an impending Israeli strike, which officials later said turned out to be a false alarm. There have been false alarms elsewhere in Beirut and other parts of Lebanon, causing fears among residents.

The ongoing conflict is not the first between Hezbollah and Israel. Hezbollah began firing into Israel a day after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel triggered the war in Gaza. After months of low-level fighting, a full-scale war erupted in September 2024 and Israel later launched a ground invasion of Lebanon.

Israeli forces withdrew from most of southern Lebanon after a U.S.-brokered ceasefire halted the fighting in late 2024, but continued to occupy five points on the Lebanese side of the border. Israel also pressed on with near-daily strikes, primarily in southern Lebanon, saying that Hezbollah has been trying to rebuild its positions there.

Associated Press writer Abby Sewell in Beirut contributed to this report.

By ELAINE KURTENBACH, AP Business Writer

BANGKOK (AP) — European shares opened higher on Wednesday after another day of sell-offs in Asia, where South Korea’s benchmark plunged more than 12%.

U.S. futures were 0.3% lower.

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Oil prices climbed more than 3% as the United States and Israel war with Iran entered its fifth day, with Israel targeting the Iranian leadership and security forces and the Islamic Republic hitting back with missile barrages and drone attacks across the region.

Worries over the war, which President Donald Trump has suggested could last a month or longer, have hammered world markets, spooking investors who fear more spikes for oil prices may grind down the global economy and sap corporate profits.

“I think the Iran situation is getting out of hand, and I think that U.S. President Donald Trump miscalculated enormously,” said Francis Lun, CEO of Venturesmart Asia. “The situation is very grim.”

Still, sentiment appeared to steady early Wednesday in Europe, where Germany’s DAX edged 0.2% higher to 23,851.86. In Paris, the CAC 40 was nearly unchanged at 8,105.25. Britain’s FTSE 100 edged 0.1% lower to 10,470.00.

In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi led the regional losses as energy security concerns eclipsed optimism over the boost computer chipmakers like Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have been getting from expanding use of artificial intelligence.

The Kospi sank 12.1% to 5,093.54. Samsung’s shares dropped 11.7%, while SK Hynix gave back 9.6%.

The Korea Exchange temporarily halted trading for the Kospi index, while a circuit breaker was also triggered on the tech-oriented Kosdaq after it fell by more than 8%. It later dropped nearly 14%.

South Korea’s stock market has been one of the world’s best performers this year, but its economy depends heavily on trade and fuel imports, that are threatened with disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow gateway to the Persian Gulf through which roughly a fifth of globally traded oil passes.

Trump announced Tuesday that he had ordered the U.S. Development Finance Corp. to provide political risk insurance and guarantees for financial security of all maritime trade.

“If necessary, the United States Navy will begin escorting tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, as soon as possible,” Trump said in a message posted by the White House on X.

Still, the price of U.S. benchmark crude oil climbed more than 3.5%, to $77.18 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gained 3.7% to $84.38 per barrel. Its price has jumped about 15% since the war began.

“Trump’s assurances of the US underwrite shipping insurance against Middle East conflict risks and even U.S. naval escorts only mitigate, but do not eliminate, enduring upside risks to oil prices,” Mizuho Bank said in a commentary.

The increased insurance costs filtering through to shipping would ultimately cost an extra $5 to $15 a barrel, it said, adding that the “‘war premium’ remains firmly intact.”

In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 shed 3.6% to 54,245.54. Like South Korea and Taiwan, Japan depends heavily on imports of oil and natural gas from the Persian Gulf.

Elsewhere in Asia, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong fell 2% to 25,249.48 and the Shanghai Composite index shed 1% to 4,082.47.

In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 declined 1.9% to 8,901.20.

Taiwan’s Taiex lost 4.4% and shares in Bangkok sank 6%.

On Tuesday, the S&P 500 finished with a loss of 0.9% after dropping as much as 2.5% on concerns over the war’s damage to the economy. The Dow Jones Industrial Average pared its loss to 0.8% and the Nasdaq composite fell 1%.

Some analysts say stocks could rebound if the war ends soon. If it drags on, higher inflation partly due to rising energy prices could tie the Federal Reserve’s hands and keep it from cutting interest rates.

For now, one of the most evident impacts on the economy has been a surge in gasoline prices.

While drivers in Europe and some Asian cities waited in line to fill their tanks with fuel, as a net oil exporter the U.S. does not face a shortage. But prices are still influenced by global market trends.

In the U.S., a gallon of regular was selling for $3.11 on average, up 11 cents, according to motor club AAA, surprising some drivers at the pump. Gasoline prices were already rising before the U.S. launched strikes on Iran as refiners were switching over to summer blends of fuel.

In other dealings early Wednesday, the dollar fell to 157.46 Japanese yen from 157.74 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1604 from $1.1612.

The price of gold rose 1.2%, while silver gained 2.6%.

Associated Press writer Kim Tong-hyung in Seoul, South Korea, contributed.