Merkley urges diplomacy over military action as ceasefire holds between Israel and Iran

Senator Jeff Merkley says he's encouraged by the temporary ceasefire between Israel and Iran, but he still claims President Trump violated the constitution by authorizing military strikes on Iran's nuclear sites without officially consulting congress.

Merkley, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he has received no communication regarding America's role in the conflict.

A social media post by Merkley on Saturday claimed President Trump has taken us into war.

With Trump hailing the ceasefire, we asked if the targeted military strikes on Sunday constitute a war.

“I think whenever you go to another country and drop such massive tonnage, you are in a war, and has it thinking of a fast end? We don't know yet. I mean, what happens in the weeks to come? We don't know,” Merkley said.

A briefing was scheduled for Thursday where the Pentagon would update the Senate, but that was canceled earlier Tuesday.

Merkley co-sponsored legislation with Senator Bernie Sanders that would prohibit the use of federal funds for any military force in or against Iran.

He says diplomacy, not war, is the way forward in stopping Iran's nuclear ambitions.

“We know a diplomatic strategy can be very effective in ending any possibility of a nuclear weapons program,” Merkley says. “That has to be recreated so you have some kind of diplomatic follow-on that addresses those issues.”

He takes aim at President Trump's decision to pull out of the Iran Nuclear Deal in 2018, a deal that was originally negotiated by President Barack Obama.