Politics
US soldiers have been killed. US bases in Kuwait and UAE have been struck by Iranian missiles and drones. The conflict has spread to four countries. The Vice President will not call it a war. Congress has not declared one.
NewsOnScale Staff
September 12, 2026
Six United States soldiers were killed and dozens were wounded when an Iranian drone evaded air defense systems and struck a US military operations center near Camp Arifjan in Kuwait on March 1 2026.
Iranian missiles and suicide drones have struck US military bases in Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates. The strikes hit satellite communications systems equipment warehouses and fighter jet hangars at Kuwait's Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base. Iranian forces also targeted US positions and radar installations at Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE.
The conflict has spread to at least four countries beyond Iran — Kuwait UAE Jordan and Saudi Arabia.
Vice President JD Vance said last week that he would not call the conflict a war.
Congress has not declared war on Iran.
What the Constitution Requires
Article I Section 8 of the United States Constitution gives Congress the exclusive power to declare war. The last time Congress exercised that authority was June 5 1942.
Since then the United States has fought in Korea Vietnam Kuwait Bosnia Afghanistan Iraq Libya Syria and now Iran. None of these conflicts began with a formal congressional declaration of war.
The Vance Statement
Vice President Vance told CBS News that he would not call the US-Iran conflict a war.
Six Americans have been killed. US bases in two countries have been struck by missiles and drones. Iran has attacked Kuwait International Airport suspending commercial aviation in Kuwaiti airspace. An Iranian fighter jet penetrated multiple layers of US air defenses and conducted a successful bombing run on Camp Buehring.
If that is not a war the word has no meaning.
The administration's refusal to use the word war is not semantic. It is strategic. If it is not a war Congress does not have to vote. If Congress does not have to vote no elected official has to go on record authorizing the conflict. No one is accountable for the six Americans who came home in coffins.
The Founders designed a system specifically to prevent this. They gave Congress the declare war power because they understood that a single executive could drag a nation into conflict without accountability to the people bearing the cost.
What Should Happen
The remedy is straightforward. Congress votes. If the conflict with Iran serves American national interests and is worth the blood and treasure being spent — including the lives of six American soldiers in Kuwait — then Congress votes to authorize it formally. Members go on record. Constituents know where their representatives stand.
If Congress cannot muster the votes to formally authorize a conflict that has already killed Americans and spread across four countries that tells the American people something important about whether the conflict should be happening at all.
What is not acceptable is an administration calling dead Americans heroes while simultaneously refusing to call their deaths a war — and a Congress that stays silent rather than exercise the constitutional authority the Founders gave it.
The Dixie County Contrast
Dixie County Florida has a closed fire station. Two paramedics remain. An ,000 budget shortfall that county commissioners blame on delayed federal hurricane payments.
The same federal government that cannot fund rural fire protection is spending hundreds of millions of dollars per day on an undeclared conflict that has now spread across Kuwait the UAE Jordan and Saudi Arabia — and that the Vice President of the United States will not call a war.
That is a spending priority. It is also a constitutional one.
DISCLOSURE: NewsOnScale is an independent media publication operated by AMILLI AI CORP. JJ Johnson is the founder of AMILLI AI CORP and a declared candidate for President of the United States in 2028. His platform calls for restoring congressional war-making authority under Article I of the Constitution. All facts in this article are drawn from reporting by CBS News Middle East Eye Critical Threats Radio Free Europe and MiGFlug.