By LISA MASCARO, AP Congressional Corresponden

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Congress is about to launch a war powers debate over President Donald Trump’s authority to bomb Iran under largely unusual circumstances — he has already done it, and the country is essentially already at war.

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Bombs are falling, people are dying and vows of revenge and retribution are being lobbed in escalating threats, all while untold taxpayer dollars are being spent on a military strategy that’s expected to continue for weeks with an undefined goal and conclusion. Unlike the run-up to the Iraq War in 2003, which included long debates in Congress in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, or the more recent U.S. military strikes on Venezuela that proved to be limited, the joint U.S.-Israel military attack on Iran, called Operation Epic Fury, is well underway, with no foreseeable end in sight.

At least four U.S. military personnel have been killed, and Trump warned on Sunday “there will likely be more.”

The moment is a defining one for Congress, which alone has the authority under the U.S. Constitution to declare war, and for the Republican president, who has consistently seized power during his second term with an apparent limitless view of his own executive reach.

“The Constitution is intended to prevent the accumulation of power in any one branch of government — and in any one person in government,” said David Janovsky, acting director of The Constitution Project at the Project on Government Oversight, a watchdog organization.

“Congress is the people’s representatives in a way that the president isn’t, even though we tend to focus on the president,” he said. “We need the people’s representatives to weigh in on whether we, the people, are going to war right now.”

War powers as a check on presidential power

In the U.S., the Congress would need to affirmatively approve wartime operations, with a declaration of war, or with an authorization for the use of military force, to essentially approve of the actions. But this rarely happens.

In fact, Congress has declared war just five times in the nation’s history, most recently in 1941, to enter World War II a day after the Pearl Harbor attack. Congress approved an AUMF for the 1990 Gulf War and did so again in 2001 and 2002 to launch the 9/11-era wars into Afghanistan and then Iraq.

But Congress also created the war powers resolution during the Vietnam War-era, as something of a tool of last resort — deployed to slap back a president who had embarked on military excursions without congressional approval.

Both the House and the Senate have prepared war powers resolutions for votes this week.

Sen. Mark Warner, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump, as president, “does not have the right to do this on his own.”

“When the president commits American forces to a war of choice, he needs to come before Congress and the American people and ask for a declaration of war,” Warner said on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

While lawmakers have criticized the Iranian regime and its nuclear ambitions, Democrats said Trump has not provided a rationale for the war or outlined its strategy for what comes next, and Trump’s MAGA coalition is splintering over what it sees as the president’s failure to keep his “America First” campaign promise by leading the U.S. toward an overseas war. Many lawmakers are wary of a longer entanglement as the operation killed Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and hundreds of people in the region.

White House officials are scheduled to brief congressional leaders and lawmakers this week, but the question-and-answer sessions will be behind closed doors, without a watchful public.

The U.S. Capitol is photographed Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)

Power of the purse can stop wars

Over time, presidents of both major political parties have accumulated vast authority to engage in what are often more limited U.S. military strikes to accomplish strategic national security goals without approval from Congress. Democrat Barack Obama’s military operations over Libya and Republican George H.W. Bush’s incursions into Panama were conducted without the nod from Congress.

But restraining a president’s war powers is something lawmakers past and present have rarely been able to accomplish. Even if Congress is able to pass a war powers resolution to curb Trump in Iran, the House and the Senate would be unlikely to tally the two-thirds majority needed to overcome a presidential veto.

Trump has shrugged at the power of Congress to dictate what he can and can’t do, in war and other matters. He made only a brief mention of Iran in his State of the Union address last week, treating lawmakers’ support as an afterthought.

John Yoo, a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, said the Founding Fathers set up a constitutional system in which the president and Congress would battle it out over these issues — but with Congress having one particularly powerful tool, because it controls the federal funding.

“Congress, they know how to stop this if they want to,” said Yoo, who helped draft the Bush administration’s 2001 and 2002 use of force authorizations. The Vietnam War ended once Congress pulled funding, he said.

But Congress is controlled by a Republican majority that largely shares Trump’s view of focusing military power against Iran, and it recently approved massive new funds for the Pentagon, some $175 billion, in the big tax cuts bill that he signed into law last yar.

With the Republican president’s party in power in the House and the Senate, it’s no surprise they are unlikely to object, Yoo said: “They agree with him.”

Debate in Congress begins

Ahead of debates, Republican Sen. Tom Cotton, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Trump already laid out his vision for Iran.

Cotton said Sunday that Trump has made it clear the U.S. won’t be sending ground forces inside Iran. Instead, Americans should expect to see an “extended air and naval campaign” in the region, which could result in pilots being shot down, though he said the military personnel would be recovered.

He expects a weekslong campaign as Iran names a new leader and determines how it will react to the U.S. attack.

“There’s no simple answer for what’s going to come next,” Cotton said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

By JON GAMBRELL, MELANIE LIDMAN and SAMY MAGDY

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran and allied armed groups fired missiles at Israel, Arab states and U.S. military targets around the region on Monday, while Israel and the United States pounded Iran as the war expanded to several fronts. Kuwait mistakenly shot down three American warplanes over its skies.

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The intensity of the attacks on both sides, the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the lack of any apparent exit plan indicated the conflict would not end any time soon. It was already have far-reaching consequences across the region and beyond: Previously safe havens in the Mideast like Dubai have seen incoming fire; hundreds of thousands of airline passengers are stranded around the globe; oil prices shot up; and U.S. allies pledged to help stop Iranian missiles and drones.

If attacked, Iran has long threatened to drag the region into total war, including targeting Israel the Gulf Arab states and the flow of crude oil crucial for global energy markets. All these things came under attack on Monday.

QatarEnergy, in fact, said it would stop its production of liquefied natural gas because of the conflict, taking one of the world’s top suppliers off the market. It offered no timeline for restoring its production.

The chaos of the conflict became apparent when the U.S. military said Kuwait had “mistakenly shot down” three American F-15E Strike Eagles during a combat mission while attacks from Iranian aircraft, ballistic missiles, and drones were underway. U.S. Central Command said all six pilots ejected safely and are in stable condition.

At least 555 people have been killed in Iran so far by the U.S.-Israeli campaign, the Iranian Red Crescent Society said, and more than 130 cities across the country having come under attack. Eleven people have been killed in Israel and 31 in Lebanon, according to authorities there.

Lebanon’s government said Hezbollah’s overnight attack against Israel were “illegal” and demanded the group handle over its weapons. Lebanese Prime Minister Nawaf Salam said only the state can decide whether to go to war or peace, and called on the Lebanese military to prevent the firing of projectiles and detain anyone involved.

In Kuwait, fire and smoke rose from inside the U.S. Embassy compound.

On Monday afternoon, multiple airstrikes hit Tehran, Iran’s capital, while top Iranian security official Ali Larijani vowed on X that “we will not negotiate with the United States.”

In Iraq, a pro-Iranian militia claimed responsibility for a drone attack targeting U.S. troops at the Baghdad airport, the day after it said it fired at a U.S. base in the city of Irbil in the north, and Cyprus said a drone attack targeted a British base on the Mediterranean island nation.

Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian missile sites and targeted its navy, claiming to have destroyed its headquarters and multiple warships.

Iran expands attacks to regional oil infrastructure

World markets were rattled by the fighting and oil prices soared.

Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura oil refinery came under a drone attack on Monday, with defenses downing the incoming aircraft, a military spokesman told the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Online videos from the site appeared to show thick black smoke rising after the attack. Even successfully intercepted drones cause debris that can spark fires and injure those on the ground.

Ras Tanura, near the city of Dammam in eastern Saudi Arabia, is one of the world’s largest with a capacity over half a million barrels of crude oil a day. It was temporarily shut down as a precaution after the attack, Saudi state television reported.

Oman said a bomb-carrying drone boat exploded against Marshall Islands-flagged oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman on Monday, off the coast of the sultanate’s capital of Muskat, killing one mariner. The state-run Oman News Agency said the dead crew member was from India.

Earlier in the day, debris fell on Kuwait’s Ahmadi oil refinery, injuring two workers, after drones were shot down, the state-run KUNA news agency reported.

Iran’s decision to expands its attacks to major regional oil infrastructure adds a new element to the war gripping the Middle East, directly targeting the lifeblood of the area’s economy.

“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at the risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft.

“An extended period of uncertainty lies ahead as Iran seeks to impose a heavy economic cost by putting tankers, regional energy infrastructure, trade routes and U.S. security partners in the crosshairs,” he added.

Iran has also threatened ships in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the Persian Gulf through which a fifth of all oil traded passes. Several ships have been attacked as well there.

An Iranian claim

Iran’s Ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, Reza Najafi, told reporters that the U.S.-Israeli airstrikes had targeted Iran’s Natanz nuclear enrichment site on Sunday.

“Again they attacked Iran’s peaceful safeguarded nuclear facilities yesterday,” he said. “Their justification that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons is simply a big lie.”

Israel and the U.S. have not acknowledged strikes at the site, which the U.S. bombed back in the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June. The Israeli military also did not immediately comment on Najafi’s allegation.

Israel has not publicized specific targets in Iran but has said that it is targeting “leadership and nuclear infrastructure.”

Hezbollah fires on Israel, prompting massive response

As the attacks on Iran continued, Hezbollah said it fired missiles from Lebanon into Israel early Monday in response to the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and “repeated Israeli aggressions.” There were no reports of injuries or damage, and Israel said that it had intercepted one projectile while several fell in open areas.

Israel retaliated with strikes on Lebanon, killing at least 31 people and wounding 149 others, according to Lebanon’s Health Ministry. About two thirds of the dead were in the country’s south.

Lebanon’s government said it was holding an emergency meeting after Hezbollah’s attack on Israel triggered the Israeli airstrikes.

Iran has been firing missiles at Israel and Arab states in a counteroffensive since the joint America-Israeli attack Saturday that killed Khamenei and many top Iranian officials.

Casualties rise as attacks spread

Gulf Arab states have warned that they could retaliate against Iran after strikes that hit key sites and killed at least five civilians, and U.S. President Donald Trump promised Washington would “avenge” the deaths of three American troops who were killed in Kuwait, while predicting more casualties.

“Sadly, there will likely be more before it ends,” Trump said. “That’s the way it is.”

Trump has urged Iranians to “take over” their government and, while he has also signaled he would be open to dialogue with new leadership there following the death of Khamenei, suggested Sunday there was no end in sight to the military operations.

“Combat operations continue at this time in full-force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” he said in a video message. “We have very strong objectives,” he added, without elaborating.

The U.S. military said B-2 stealth bombers struck Iran’s ballistic missile facilities with 2,000-pound bombs. Trump said on social media that nine Iranian warships had been sunk and that the Iranian navy’s headquarters had been “largely destroyed.”

Others have mostly stayed out of the war and pressed for diplomacy. But in an indication that the conflict could draw in other nations, Britain, France and Germany said Sunday they were ready to work with the U.S. to help stop Iran’s attacks.

Early Monday, Cyprus said an uncrewed drone “caused limited damage” when it hit a British air base on the southern coast. Further details were not immediately available, but it came after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the U.K. would help the U.S. in the war against Iran.

The weekend attacks were the second time in eight months that the U.S. and Israel had combined against Iran, in a startling show of military might for an American president elected on an “America First” platform and pledged to keep out of “forever wars.”

In the 12-day war last June, Israeli and American strikes greatly weakened Iran’s air defenses, military leadership and nuclear program. But the killing of Khamenei, who ruled Iran for more than three decades, creates a leadership vacuum, increasing the risk of regional instability.

Iranian proxies join the fray

Hezbollah’s launch of missiles at Israel was the first time in more than a year that the militant group has claimed an attack. Israel said Hezbollah had “joined the campaign” alongside Iran as it retaliated with strikes on Beirut, Lebanon’s capital.

Associated Press journalists in Beirut were jolted awake Monday by a series of loud explosions that shook buildings and caused windows to shatter. Warplanes could be heard flying low overhead.

“The strikes continue,” said Maj. Gen. Rafi Milo, head of Israel’s Northern Command. “Their intensity will increase.”

The Iraqi Shiite militia Saraya Awliya al-Dam claimed a drone attack Monday targeting U.S. troops at the airport in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, further widening the retaliation over the killing of Khamenei. It had claimed a drone attack on Sunday against a U.S. air base in Irbil, in Iraq’s north.

The group is one of a number of Shiite militias operating in Iraq. The U.S. and Iraq did not immediately comment on the claims.

In the Persian Gulf, Iran’s retaliatory strikes pushed the conflict into cities that have long marketed themselves as regional safe havens. Three people were reported killed in the United Arab Emirates and one each in Kuwait and Bahrain.

In the United Arab Emirates, authorities said most Iranian missiles and drones were intercepted. But some either got through or fell as debris, causing the deaths and significant damage. Bahrain and Kuwait said Iranian strikes in both countries hit civilian targets outside the U.S. bases where Iran had pledged to retaliate.

WHO calls for protection of civilians

Tehran’s streets have been largely deserted with people sheltering during airstrikes. The paramilitary Basij force, which has played a central role in crushing recent protests, set up checkpoints across the city, according to witnesses.

In the northern Iranian city of Babol, a student, speaking anonymously over concerns of retribution, told the AP that armed riot police were on the streets Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday after the death of Khamenei.

“We don’t know whether to be happy about the elimination of the criminals who oppress us or to remain silent in the face of the U.S. and Israel’s war against the country and its interests and the terror that is taking place,” he said.

In Israel, rescue services have confirmed several locations have been hit by Iranian missiles, including Jerusalem and a synagogue in Beit Shemesh, where nine people were killed and 28 wounded, bringing the overall death toll in the country to 11.

The World Health Organization called Monday for sparing civilians and healthcare facilities in the Middle East amid the escalating conflict.

“The protection of civilians and health care must be absolute,” Hanan Balkhy, regional dietitian at WHO wrote on social media. “All parties must … ensure medical facilities remain protected.”

Lidman reported from Tel Aviv, Israel, and Magdy from Cairo. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue and Sally Abou AlJoud in Beirut contributed to this report.

Trey Beissel entered state tournament week with an undefeated record and a strong likelihood of securing a second individual state championship to go with the team title he helped Hastings secure in 2023.

But Beissel suffered a knee injury in the team quarterfinals on Wednesday afternoon. An official diagnosis would wait until after the weekend, but Beissel believed he injured his meniscus. The injury kept him out of the Raiders’ team semifinal match against St. Michael-Albertville. The question was – would it end his high school career altogether? The 133-pound, Class 3A tournament awaited Thursday morning.

He couldn’t move his leg without pain, much less bend it or be athletic on it. Wrestling on it? It sounds far fetched.

Yet when Beissel woke up Thursday morning with the decision to withdraw or wrestle staring him in the face, he couldn’t imagine selecting the former.

“Just thought, in my senior year, gotta go out there and show some heart and just wrestle,” said Beissel, a Gophers commit.

Fearless, tough, maybe a little crazy – a wrestling response if there ever was one.

It went astonishingly well – perhaps not aesthetically. One of the state’s top wrestlers required ibuprofen, a heavy tape job and a massive wrap just to take the mat, the latter prevented the leg from going into the dreaded bending motion.

Beissel effectively dragged a stiff limb along for the ride.

“It’s just crazy grit and determination, just showing how much he wants it,” said his teammate, Hastings freshman Beckett Edstrom, who won the Class 3A, 121 pound title. “It’s just inspiring.”

Beissel won the first three matches, somehow doing so rather convincingly. Beissel admitted he was surprised by his success.

“I didn’t think I’d be able to get to some legs (for takedowns), and I was able to do that,” Beissel said. “Once I was on my feet, I was good there.”

It was when he was on bottom that was the issue. It’s tough to build a base on one leg. And opponents targeted the injury in an attempt to … get a leg up.

“There’s not much I can really do there,” Beissel said. “Every period I was thinking the same thing: Just going out there, trying to do what I do best and go score some points.”

Beissel ultimately fell in the title bout to St. Michael-Albertville’s Brody Bergeron in a match that was tied 1-1 in the final period. His immediate disappointment was evident in the moment. But roughly an hour later, as he gingerly made his way toward the exit, even he could acknowledge the pride in what he’d just achieved over the course of three grueling, painful days.

“Definitely changed my mindset a little bit that you can do anything, really,” he said. “You can push through anything. Just a little injury, just another setback. You’ve just got to push through it.”

The impact of that lesson – the ones this sport, in particular, has a way of teaching – will last far longer than the difference in color of ribbon.

“Not even just in wrestling, but anything,” he said. “There’s always something in the way you’ve got to get past.”

Preparation pays off

Stillwater’s Noah Nicholson celebrates after defeating Buffalo’s Gabriel Roehl during the 127-pound to win the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Stillwater junior Noah Nicholson learned a maneuver from a Minnesota Elite Wrestling camp that he deployed numerous times this season.

It’s common for two wrestlers to get into a deadlock standing position where they have one another’s heads held down by their arms. It’s a neutral position that traditionally leads to a stalemate call from the official after a sustained lack of action.

But at a camp, Nicholson was taught to pop your head out of the position, come around the side and throw your opponent over.

“I’ve hit it a few times,” he said. “It’s not like my go to (move), but it’s been there before.”

And it presented itself early in the Class 3A, 127-pound title match. Nicholson and Buffalo junior Gabriel Roehl got locked up early in the match. Nicholson popped out, then put Roehl on his back and won by pinfall just 24 seconds into the opening stanza.

Hastings’ Beckett Edstrom, top, wrestles St. Michael-Albertville’s Grant Bergeron during the 121-pound match of the Class 3A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. Edstrom won the match to take the state title. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Edstrom’s preparation paid off later in his title match. He held a 6-3 lead over St. Michael-Albertville’s Grant Bergeron to open the third period, which Edstrom would start in the down position. At that point, the Hastings freshman knew what was coming – the cradle. It’s a move frequently attempted by Bergeron, and could generate the back points needed to erase a deficit.

But Edstrom had diagnosed the maneuver on film, and repped out a rebuttal. He stuck his leg between Bergeron’s and rolled into a reversal.

“I did it one time before,” he said, “and I knew it was going to be there and it worked.”
Practice makes perfect.

“Most definitely,” he said. “You just don’t feel as panicked and you know what you’re doing.”

Both Nicholson and Edstrom noted the state titles – the first for each grappler – meant a lot.

“It really helps me with my future goals,” Nicholson said. “Hopefully I can get some offers, that definitely is a big step towards that.”

Gotta go

Simley’s Jake Kos Becker’s celebrates after defeating Beckers Levi Thompson during the 145-pound match in the Class 2A individual championship match of the State Wrestling Tournament at Grand Casino Arena in St. Paul on Thursday, Feb. 27, 2025. (Craig Lassig / Special to the Pioneer Press)

Simley’s Jake Kos won his second individual state title Saturday via a second-period pin in the Class 2A, 145-pound title match.

While others soak in moments of glory and celebration after achieving the feat, the junior completed his handshakes then raced off the mat and into the tunnel before breaking right into a post-match sprint through the bowels of Grand Casino Arena.

“It just comes to me,” Kos said of the ritual. “My heart rate is up, what I want to do is keep it up. I’m so excited, I love wrestling and I just wish it was a little bit longer being on the mat.”

Kos knows what an honor it is to win a state title. He constantly tries to put himself in the mindset of a senior to remember that such moments are fleeting and they need to be cherished and enjoyed.

But he’s not afraid to admit he’s constantly chasing bigger goals, as is the case for many of the state’s truly elite talents. Kos’ coaches have encouraged him to dream big. He competes in some of the nation’s top tournaments and is chasing a spot on a national team.

“When you go to the  (USA Wrestling Junior and 16U Nationals), everybody is a state champ,” he said. “So it kind of opens your eyes that there’s always something bigger to accomplish, bigger to chase after. It makes these moments special, but it’s like a stepping block to that next stage.”

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Waiting for a mentor: Zeek

Kids ‘n Kinship provides friendships and positive role models to children and youth ages 5-16 who are in need of an additional supportive relationship with an adult. Here’s one of the youth waiting for a mentor:

First name: Zeek

Age: 12

Interests: Zeek likes swimming, zombie movies and video games. He also likes to fish a lot. He is very caring and protective when he gets to spend time with animals.

Personality/Characteristics: Zeek is learning ways to be a better listener. He describes himself as: kind”ish” (his words), helpful, and caring. He is adopted but protective of and caring toward his biological siblings who live outside his home.

Goals/dreams: He would like a 1:1 male mentor, or a couple mentorship. Adoptive mom notes, “He is really in need of a positive male role model. He was formerly in foster care. He could use positive adults in his life to see there’s a different path for him and healthier way males can be. When he grows up he wants to be a manager at a store or maybe a social worker, helping kids. Animal-loving, patient and big-hearted male is encouraged to apply!

For more information: Zeek is waiting for a mentor through Kids n’ Kinship in Dakota County. To learn more about this youth mentoring program and the 39+ youth waiting for a mentor, sign up for an Information Session, visit www.kidsnkinship.org or email programs@kidsnkinship.org. For more information about mentoring in the Twin Cities outside of Dakota County, contact MENTOR MN at mentor@mentormn.org or fill out a brief form at www.mentoring.org/take-action/become-a-mentor/#search.

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