The American military operation carried out on the night of June 21 to 22 against three nuclear sites in Iran arouses a political outcry in Washington. Called “midnight hammer”, this major offensive, unilaterally decided by Donald Trump, plunges the political class into an institutional crisis with explosive contours. At the heart of criticism: the total absence of consultation with the congress, however the only constitutionally authorized authority to authorize military action of this magnitude.
In the aftermath of the intervention, which mobilized 125 planes, including seven stealth B-2 Spirit bombers, and involved the shot of around twenty Tomahawk missiles from a submarine in the Persian Gulf, the first reactions were not long. If the president welcomes “total success”, saying that Iranian nuclear installations in Fordo, Natanz and Ispahan have been “completely destroyed”, many voices question both the legitimacy and the opportunity of this flash strike.
Among the most virulent criticisms, Democratic representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez denounced “an authoritarian drift of executive power” and called to open a parliamentary debate on the follow-up to be given to this action. Other elected officials, including some progressive members of the Democratic Party, already evoke the possibility of a dismissal procedure, considering that Trump has violated the Constitution by arranging the right to trigger a major military operation.
In the American media, many experts also highlight the lack of independent evidence to confirm the president’s statements on the result of the operation. The uncertainty surrounding the damage inflicted on Iranian sites and the possible reprisals of Tehran fuel general concern.
For his part, Donald Trump persists and signs: if he ensures that he does not want war, he threatens Iran with new strikes “from American territory” if the latter “does not choose peace”.
While the electoral campaign for the mid-term elections in 2026 is intensifying, this new crisis may well become a major political turning point. The “midnight hammer” operation, far from consolidating it, could accelerate internal divisions and relaunch the spectrum of a third imacted.
