Republican senator backs Bernie Sanders’ plan to cut off Trump's funding for military action in Iran

Mike Lee supporting Democrat bill days after lambasting Trump aides' briefing on targeted killing of Qassem Soleimani

One of America’s most conservative senators has teamed up with the Senate’s only socialist to try to limit Donald Trump‘s ability to send US forces to war in the Middle East.

Utah Republican Mike Lee said he would co-sponsor Bernie Sanders‘ No War With Iran Act, which would prevent federal funds being used for military action against Iran without Congress’s express approval.

In a joint statement to The Independent, Mr Lee and Mr Sanders – a political independent who calls himself a democratic socialist and is running for the Democratic party’s presidential nomination – said that while they disagree on many issues, “standing up for the Constitution is not about partisanship”.

“The Founding Fathers were absolutely clear. They wanted to ensure that our country avoided needless conflict and they understood that presidential war-making would be harmful to our democracy,” they said.

“That is why Article I of the Constitution vests Congress—and only Congress—with the power to declare war and to direct government spending. The American people’s elected representatives have a duty to publicly debate and vote on military action before we send our brave service members into harm’s way or spend a penny on military hostilities.”

While it might appear unusual for a self-proclaimed socialist such as Mr Sanders to find common cause with a Republican who came to the Senate in the 2010 Tea Party wave, this senatorial odd couple has worked together to stop a US war in the Middle East before.

Last year, Mr Lee signed on to a Sanders-authoured bill to force an end to US involvement in Saudi Arabia’s war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen. That effort passed both the House and Senate, but was vetoed by Mr Trump. An override attempt did not garner the two-thirds majority to force the bill into law over the president’s objections.

Opposition to American intervention in foreign wars has long been a pet cause for the Utah Republican, who on Wednesday erupted in anger after Trump administration officials failed to explain the nature of the “imminent threat” Mr Trump cited to justify his decision to kill Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Maj Gen Qassem Soleimani with a drone strike.

Speaking to reporters immediately after the briefing’s conclusion, Mr Lee called it "insulting”, "demeaning" and "the worst briefing I’ve seen, at least on a military issue” during his Senate tenure.

Mr Lee is not the only high-profile Republican to break with the president over the possibility of military action against Iran.

When the House passed a resolution declaring that Mr Trump did not have congressional approval to conduct any new military actions against Iran, one of the 3 Republicans voting for the legislation was Florida Representative Matt Gaetz.

Mr Gaetz has long been one of Mr Trump’s staunchest defenders, but on Thursday told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that the Democrat-backed bill was worthy of support because it said Mr Trump – or any president – needs congressional approval ”to drag our nation into another forever Middle East war”.