President Donald Trump on Sunday used his personal Twitter account to notify Congress of his plans to retaliate “perhaps in a disproportionate manner” if Iran retaliates against any American person or asset.

“These Media Posts will serve as notification to the United States Congress that should Iran strike any U.S. person or target, the United States will quickly & fully strike back, & perhaps in a disproportionate manner,” Trump tweeted on Sunday afternoon. “Such legal notice is not required, but is given nevertheless!”

The president appeared to be mocking the War Powers Act of 1973, a federal law that checks the president’s power and that Democratic lawmakers have called for him to abide by after the unprecedented assassination of Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a high-ranking Iranian military official.

The House Foreign Affairs Committee sarcastically responded to the tweet, saying, “This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re not a dictator.”

This Media Post will serve as a reminder that war powers reside in the Congress under the United States Constitution. And that you should read the War Powers Act. And that you’re not a dictator. https://t.co/VTroMegWv0 — House Foreign Affairs Committee (@HouseForeign) January 5, 2020

After Democrats slammed the Trump administration for its lack of transparency, the White House delivered a formal notification of the drone strike to Congress on Saturday. The War Powers Act of 1973 requires that the president report to Congress within 48 hours of introducing military forces into armed conflict abroad. Those reports usually include details on the administration’s reasoning for intervention, as well as its constitutional and legislative justification to send troops overseas. Trump’s report was entirely classified.

“This classified War Powers Act notification delivered to Congress raises more questions than it does answers,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said in a statement. “This document prompts serious and urgent questions about the timing, manner and justification of the Administration’s decision to engage in hostilities against Iran. The highly unusual decision to classify this document ... suggests that the Congress and the American people are being left in the dark about our national security.”

Trump’s tweet Sunday came shortly after Iran said it would no longer abide by any of the limits of its 2015 nuclear deal with major world powers, ending an agreement created in order to block Tehran from having enough material to make an atomic weapon.

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians walked alongside a casket carrying Soleimani’s remains on Sunday, and Iraq’s parliament voted to oust foreign troops — a decision directed at the U.S. — in response to the assassination.

On Saturday, Trump used Twitter to again threaten violence against Iran, saying he will attack 52 unnamed Iranian sites (some of which he claimed are of cultural importance) if the Iranian government retaliates over Soleimani’s death. Many responded to the threat on Twitter by reminding the president that attacking cultural sites and places of worship is a war crime, according to rules established by the Geneva Convention.

People called on Twitter founder Jack Dorsey to do something about the president’s tweet, saying they’re concerned about the company allowing Trump to threaten war with Iran through its platform.

A spokesperson for Twitter declined to comment on Trump’s tweet, but referred HuffPost to a blog post about the company’s approach to world leaders’ behavior on Twitter, and another about making exceptions for controversial tweets in the name of public interest.

Wow. Trump is quite literally using Twitter as a way to declare war on Iran without even notifying Congress through official means. Never before in the history of the United States has any President been this unhinged and disrespectful of our Constitution. — Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) January 5, 2020

Please read the Constitution.



Sincerely,

A concerned young American — David Hogg text VOTE to 954-954 (@davidhogg111) January 5, 2020

C’mon, @Jack. This is a turning point. You can stop this. You are now complicit in something much larger if you don’t really look at this and act. https://t.co/f0WrTB50qV — Ava DuVernay (@ava) January 5, 2020