Johnson: “We’re not at war right now”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) on Wednesday rejected the notion that the U.S. was "at war" with Iran as the House prepares to vote on a war powers resolution.

"We're not at war right now," the speaker told reporters despite President Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth both using the term. "We're four days into a very specific, clear mission and operation."

The House is set to vote Thursday on a resolution sponsored by Reps. Ro Khanna (D-CA) and Thomas Massie (R-KY) that would restrict the president's authority to conduct military action against Iran.

"I think passage of a war powers resolution right now would be a terrible, dangerous idea," the speaker said. "It would empower our enemies, it would kneecap our own forces, and it would take the ability of the U.S. military and the commander in chief away from completing this critical mission to keep everybody safe."

Speaker Johnson noted that Iran had retaliated by attacking three U.S. embassies since the American and Israeli campaign began early Saturday morning.

"Those are sovereign territories of the U.S. They have declared war on us," he said. "I don’t believe in the semantics. We've talked about the language this morning. We're not at war right now."

The speaker projected confidence that the resolution will fail in the House despite his razor-thin majority. Even if it passes, it has no chance of getting through the Senate or being signed into law. Nevertheless, it would serve as a proxy for lawmakers' views on the conflict.

"I believe we have the votes to put this down, and I certainly pray that's true," he said. "We have to put this down."