CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The area’s Congressional delegation split along party lines in its response to President Trump and Israel’s attack on Iran.

Republicans applauded President Trump for the action, which killed Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while Democrats questioned what the mission objectives are and object to Trump’s bypassing Congress and acting unilaterally.

“President Trump warned the Iran regime that they need to stop pushing a nuclear weapon and stop murdering innocent civilians,” said 5th District Congressman John McGuire in a social media statement. “With a threat of Iran acquiring nuclear weapons, the United States and its ally Israel have launched a series of strikes. This may be the only chance for the Iranian people to stop the tyranny of their oppressive government and obtain freedom. As President Trump encourages them to take over their government, we are stepping in to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon, protecting American interests at home and abroad, and giving the Iranian people a chance at regime change.”

Republican 6th District Rep. Ben Cline said in social media, “Iran’s oppressive regime has brutalized its own people, targeted Americans, and fueled terror and instability across the Middle East for decades. POTUS did what others refused to do. He confronted Ayatollah Khamenei’s ruthless rule and put America First by defending our citizens and restoring strength on the world stage. I stand with the people of Iran as they seek freedom from tyranny,” he concluded in his first statement.

But, while the Trump administration points to Iran’s nuclear program as the reason behind the weekend strikes, in 2025, the administration asserted that Iran was years away from having the long-range missile capabilities. Others noted that Trump campaigned on a promise of not entering the U.S. into new wars.

7th District Democrat Eugene Vindman, who currently represents Culpeper and Orange counties within his jurisdiction, said in a statement, “This morning, President Trump again broke his promise to the American people to stop pursuing wars of choice in the Middle East. The President ordered ‘major combat operations’ in Iran attacking targets including senior Iranian leadership with the apparent goal of regime change. This war has no legal justification under domestic or international law. As an Army veteran who served in Iraq, I’m left asking one question: How does this war end?

“President Trump doesn’t know, and, worse, he doesn’t care.”

Virginia’s U.S. Senators also criticized Trump’s actions.

“Overnight, the president conducted expansive U.S. strikes – not limited to nuclear or missile infrastructure but extending to a broad set of targets, including senior Iranian leadership – marking a deeply consequential decision that risks pulling the United States into another broad conflict in the Middle East,” Sen. Mark Warner said in a statement. “Iran’s leadership has long supported terrorism across the region, undermined regional stability, continued to advance its nuclear ambitions, and brutally repressed its own people. But acknowledging those realities does not relieve any president of the responsibility to act within the law, with a clear strategy, and with Congress.

“The American people have seen this playbook before – claims of urgency, misrepresented intelligence, and military action that pulls the United States into regime change and prolonged, costly nation-building. We owe it to our service members, and to every American family, to ensure that we are not repeating the mistakes of the past. The president owes the country clear answers: What is the objective? What is the strategy to prevent escalation? And how does this make Americans safer?

“By the president’s own words, ‘American heroes may be lost.’ That alone should have demanded the highest level of scrutiny, deliberation, and accountability, yet the president moved forward without seeking congressional authorization. The Constitution is clear: the decision to take this nation to war rests with Congress, and launching large-scale military operations – particularly in the absence of an imminent threat to the United States – raises serious legal and constitutional concerns. Congress must be fully briefed, and the administration must come forward with a clear legal justification, a defined end state, and a plan that avoids dragging the United States into yet another costly and unnecessary war.”

In a video Q&A Sunday, Warner said he’ll be in Hampton Roads this week with families whose loved ones “will do their duty”.

“My job is to make sure that they get answers about why their loved ones are in harm’s way.”

Sen. Tim Kaine will turn to the Senate to pass what he and Republican Rand Paul have been working on for months, a war powers resolution that would curb the assault.

“(President Trump) has not made the case to Congress, not made the case to the nation, more wars are a horrible idea,” Kaine said. “… That’s the reason that I’m forcing my colleagues with a bipartisan war powers resolution to cast a vote ‘are you for this or against it’ in the coming days. The President’s decision is to initiate war against Iran, and unlike some of the other actions he’s not calling this a law enforcement effort or something that falls beneath the threshold of what war would be, he’s calling it a war.”