Letters from an American - The Widening War in Iran

Episode Date: March 4, 2026

March 3, 2026Generals warned of risks of war in Iran, Hegseth refuses to rule out putting troops on the ground, State Department urges Americans to leave the Middle East, Cost to American taxpayers of the strikes, Administration likely to ask for supplemental funding for the war, Founders established that the power to declare war resides with Congress, Trump has taken war powers away from Americans and their representatives, Southern Command involved in operations with Ecuador. Watch today's recording here: https://www.youtube.com/live/g9TUa1Rwd6U?si=T8_KKcHQZElhpnZ-Get full, free access to Letters from an American here: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribeYou can also find me: Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hcrichardson.bsky.socialInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/heathercoxrichardson/?hl=enFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/heathercoxrichardson/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@heathercoxrichardson  Get full access to Letters from an American at heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/subscribe

March 3, 26. About a week before Trump launched Operation Epic Fury, attacking Iran alongside Israel, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Cain, warned that the lack of support from allies and depleted reserves of interceptors and Patriot missiles would make an attack on Iran risky. Patty Nyberg of Task and Purpose reported that on February 28, the day the offensive began, Admiral Brad Cooper, the head of U.S. Central Command, wrote to the troops deployed around the Middle East that they were embarking on a mission of profound consequence, moving from deterrence into active combat. Central Command has reported six American service members killed and 18 wounded in the operation. According to U.S. Central Command, which manages U.S. military operations in the Middle East, there are about 50,000 military personnel involved in Operation Epic Fury, 200 fighter jets, two aircraft carriers

and bombers, and they are moving more support to the region. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegesith refused to rule out sending ground troops to Iran. It is a message to Congress yesterday announcing he had taken military action against the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Trump wrote, it is not possible at this time to know the full scope and direction of military operations that may be necessary. Today the war continued to widen, leaving hundreds of thousands of foreign nationals in the Middle East desperate to leave. France alone has 400,000 people there. The U.S. has between 500,000 and a million people in the Middle East. The U.S. State Department has urged them to leave, but said

it could not help, and with airports and airspace is closed, just how they are supposed to do that is unclear. After pressure, the government is now saying it will work on chartering aircraft and using military planes to transport people who want to leave. Aless and Durkie of Forbes reported today that Trump's military strikes in Iran have already cost U.S. taxpayers more than a billion The three F-15E Eagle Jets lost to friendly fire on Sunday cost $90 million each. Transporting troops, ships, and aircraft to the Middle East cost about $630 million. Missiles and weapons systems are also expensive. A drone is about $35,000, and a Tomahawk missile costs millions.

And the two aircraft carriers in the region together cost at least $13 million a day. and then there are the costs of operating aircraft and so on. Jennifer Schultes and Catherine Tully McManus of Politico reported that lawmakers anticipate the administration will ask for supplemental funding for this operation over and above the more than $150 billion the Republicans provided the Pentagon in their one big, beautiful bill act, and the nearly $839 billion in regular funding Congress appropriated in February. February. Trump made little effort to present his case for military strikes against Iran to the

American people. In his letter to Congress, notifying them of his attack, Trump said he had acted under the 1973 War Powers Act, which permits a president to attack another country if there is an urgent threat. But the letter itself doesn't identify any such urgent threat. It simply said Iran is one of the world's largest sponsors of state terrorism and that it continues to seek the means to possess and employ nuclear weapons. The framers of the Constitution placed the power to declare war in the hands of Congress and not in the president, above all because they did not trust that much power in the hands of one man. But they also wanted to make sure the American people would have robust debates about the value of the money and lives lost in combat.

So determined were they for the American people to have those debates that they put into the Constitution that Congress had the power to declare war and to raise and support armies, but no appropriation of money to that use shall be for a longer term than two years. In Federalist No. 26, one of the newspaper essays Alexander Hamilton wrote to encourage the ratification of the Constitution, Hamilton explained that people shouldn't fear the strength of the new government outlined in the Constitution because the necessity of debating war alongside the two-year limit on government funding for the military would force Congress to debate military actions. He expected members of the opposition to attack those in power over military appropriations,

so that if those in power were disposed to exceed the proper limits, the community will be warned of the danger and will have an opportunity of taking measures to guard against it. But Trump has now taken that power away from the people and their representatives. He has launched a military action that by his own admission is not an emergency situation like those anticipated by the war. Power Powers Act, and thus he should have asked Congress for authorization to send troops and money to Iran. Members of Congress, in turn, would then have had to answer to their constituents.

Tonight, the U.S. Southern Command, which operates in Central and South America and the Caribbean, posted, on March 3rd, Ecuadorian and U.S. military forces launched operations against designated terrorist organizations in Ecuador. The operations are a powerful example of the commitment of partners in Latin America and the Caribbean to combat the scourge of narco-terrorism. Together, we are taking decisive action to confront narco-terrorists who have long-inflicted terror, violence, and corruption on citizens throughout the hemisphere. Eric Schmidt and Luis Ferre Soderney of the New York Times.

Times reported that U.S. Special Forces soldiers are advising and supporting Ecuadorian commandos as they conduct raids against drug-related sites run by designated terrorist organizations. Letters from an American was written and read by Heather Cox Richardson. It was produced at Soundscape Productions, Dead in Massachusetts. Recorded with music composed by Michael Moss. Thank you.