House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday that the United States risks being drawn into a prolonged and unsuccessful conflict following the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran, arguing that the military action could spiral into another costly war in the Middle East.

In an interview with CNN’s Kate Bolduan, Jeffries criticized the administration’s decision after President Donald Trump announced Saturday that American forces, alongside Israel, had launched attacks against Iranian targets.

“The American people want us to focus on making their life better and making their life more affordable; not getting involved in another endless war in the Middle East that is going to end in failure. This administration somehow found the resources, has found billions of dollars for bombs but can’t find any money to actually bring down the high cost of living here in the United States of America,” Jeffries said.

During the interview, Bolduan raised the position of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Penn., who has indicated that he does not view the operation as an illegal war.

Jeffries dismissed that view, replying, “John Fetterman knows better.”

He went on to argue that the Constitution clearly assigns war-making authority to Congress.

“Article 1 of the Constitution explicitly provides Congress with the authority to declare war, period, full-stop. And the framers of the Constitution made that decision because they were concerned about kings throughout time getting their people into unnecessary wars, impoverishing them or imperiling their very well-being by sending them off to a foreign conflict,” the lawmaker added.

He continued, “And that’s why the power was given explicitly to the House and to the Senate. And Donald Trump chose intentionally not to come before Congress, which is why we’re going to force this vote on a War Powers Resolution and make sure that we do everything we can to constrain him at this point in time.”

Bolduan also asked Jeffries whether he believed Trump could achieve regime change in Iran without deploying American ground troops.

Jeffries rejected that possibility.

“No, that’s impossible for him to do. Now, he’s claiming that he’s not going to put U.S. boots on the ground, but he’s claimed a lot of things only to do the exact opposite. This is the same person who said he is coming back to the presidency to get America out of endless wars, and now he has just gotten us into a potential endless war in the Middle East of all places, where we know, based on what happened in Afghanistan, based on what happened in Iraq, based on what happened in Libya, it’s not going to end well for American interests,” he responded.

Jeffries’ remarks reflect a broader divide among Democrats over the strikes. Several members of the party have strongly opposed Trump’s decision to target Iran, while others, including Fetterman, have publicly defended the action.

{Matzav.com}