The United States Senate on Wednesday rejected a resolution meant to halt the country’s military strikes on Iran and ending its involvement in the conflict in West Asia, USA Today reported.

The bipartisan resolution, introduced by Democrat Tim Kaine and Republican Rand Paul, would have required the withdrawal of US forces from hostilities against Iran unless Congress authorised the campaign, AFP reported.

The resolution, however, failed on a 47-53 vote in the Upper Chamber of Congress. Apart from Paul, Republicans voted to back US President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran alongside Israel.

The vote came amid a rapidly expanding conflict that began on Saturday when Israel and the US launched a joint military operation targeting the Iranian government, triggering a retaliation by Tehran.

Here’s more on this and other top updates from the conflict in West Asia:

  • Among US lawmakers, Democrats argue that Trump unconstitutionally bypassed Congress when he ordered the strikes in Iran, adding that the administration has offered shifting justifications for the war, AFP reported. Republicans, however, have largely rallied behind the president. However, some have signalled that their support could wane if the war expands or drags on.
  • The toll after a US submarine sunk Iranian warship IRIS Dena in the Indian Ocean has increased to 87, AFP quoted unidentified Sri Lankan defence and police officers as saying. Sixty-one are missing. The US Department of War had confirmed the attack that occurred off the coast of Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
  • Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Thursday said that the warship, “a guest of India’s Navy”, had been struck without warning. “Mark my words: The US will come to bitterly regret [the] precedent it has set,” he said on social media.
  • On Wednesday, the Iranian Red Crescent said that 1,000 persons had been killed in the country since the US and Israel began attacking it.
  • On Thursday, Iran launched missiles at Israel as aerial attacks in West Asia entered its sixth day. Israel announced the incoming attack shortly after its military said it had begun new strikes in Lebanon targeting the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah in capital Beirut.
  • Fresh explosions were also heard in Qatar’s capital Doha and Bahrain's Manama on Thursday, reported AFP.
  • A day after saying that the US-Israeli attacks on Iran had been “inconsistent with international law” and calling for de-escalation, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Thursday said that he cannot categorically rule out his country’s military participation in the conflict, AFP reported.
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying that India’s “compromised PM” has “surrendered” its strategic autonomy. “The conflict has reached our backyard, with an Iranian warship sunk in the Indian Ocean,” Gandhi said in a social media post. “Yet the prime minister has said nothing.” 
  • India on Thursday offered condolences on the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, with Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri signing the condolence book on behalf of the Indian government at the Iranian embassy in New Delhi. Khamenei was killed in the US-Israel attacks that began on Saturday. Misri also spoke with Iran’s ambassador to India, Mohammad Fathali.

The conflict

On Saturday, Israel and the US launched a joint operation to “degrade the capabilities” of the Iranian government.

The attacks came amid tensions between the three countries over Tehran’s nuclear programme. Washington acts as a guarantor of Israel’s security. Israel has been claiming that Iran is close to obtaining a nuclear weapon, which could alter the regional security balance.

Tehran has long maintained that its nuclear programme is for civilian purposes.

Iran retaliated by striking Israel and US military bases in the region, and targeted major cities in other Gulf countries and some ships.

The killing of Khamenei, a significant figure among Shia Muslims globally, further escalated an already volatile situation in the region. He had controlled all branches of the Iranian government and the armed forces since 1989.

After Khamenei’s killing, senior Iranian cleric Alireza Arafi was appointed to serve as part of Iran’s interim leadership.

On Wednesday, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said that whoever is chosen to succeed Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader will be “an unequivocal target for elimination”.

Trump on Tuesday also said it was “too late” for Iran to seek negotiations amid the escalating tensions in West Asia.

A day earlier, the US president had said that the attacks on Iran could extend longer than a month. He added that the war was going “substantially” ahead of schedule but that the US was equipped for a prolonged conflict.

The tensions

The US has repeatedly demanded that Iran give up its nuclear programme, threatening that Tehran must meet its terms or face consequences.

Khamenei had warned on February 1 that an attack by the US would spark a “regional war”.

Israel had been preparing for a possible conflict with Iran for several weeks.

In June, Tehran and Tel Aviv agreed to a ceasefire after 12 days of hostilities.

At the time, the Israeli military had struck what it claimed were nuclear targets, and other sites, in Iran with the aim of stalling Tehran’s nuclear programme. Iran retaliated with missile attacks on Israel.

Both countries had later accused each other of violating the ceasefire.

The two countries had been nudged by the US to accept the ceasefire after Washington on June 22 joined Israel’s war against Iran. The US military had carried out what Trump had described as a “very successful attack” on Iranian nuclear sites in Fordo, Natanz and Esfahan.

While Trump had claimed at the time that Iran’s nuclear facilities had been “completely obliterated” in the attacks, Washington’s preliminary intelligence assessment had said that the strikes only set it back by a few months, and did not destroy its nuclear programme.

Trump’s fresh focus on Iran came after the US’ military operation in Venezuela. On January 3, the US military abducted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, for alleged drug trafficking.

Almost simultaneously, on December 28, protests erupted in Iran initially focused on discontent about rising inflation. However, they later expanded as demonstrations in more than 100 towns demanded an end to clerical rule.

Following this, Trump had announced that the US military was moving warships towards Iran “just in case” he wants to take action, saying that he was “watching them very closely”.