Sen. Tammy Duckworth isn’t mincing words about President Donald Trump’s latest military action against Iran.

Appearing on CNN, the Illinois Democrat — who serves on both the Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees and is a decorated Iraq War veteran — sharply criticized Trump’s decision to strike Iran and announce the death of its Supreme Leader. While Duckworth said she does not mourn the Iranian leader, whom she accused of ordering violent crackdowns on protesters, she argued the way Trump carried out the operation raises serious constitutional and national security concerns.

“My problem with this whole thing is how President Trump has gone about doing this,” Duckworth said.

The senator accused Trump of bypassing Congress and potentially violating the War Powers Act by launching the strike without clear evidence of an imminent threat to the United States. She called on the administration to brief lawmakers immediately and justify the legal and strategic basis for the attack.

Administration officials have claimed intelligence suggested Iran was preparing possible preemptive missile strikes. However, Duckworth said she has seen no evidence presented to her committees indicating an imminent threat to U.S. forces or the homeland. She also questioned whether Iran even has the capability to strike the continental United States with ballistic missiles.

“If the president says he annihilated Iran’s nuclear program, then which is it?” she asked. “Did he eliminate the threat, or were they about to attack us?”

Duckworth’s deeper concern centers on what comes next. She warned that removing a country’s top leadership without a clearly defined follow-up plan risks creating chaos and instability — lessons she says the U.S. learned the hard way in Iraq.

“When we went into Iraq without a plan for what came after the first few weeks, we ended up there for 20 years,” she said. “Americans became targets of terrorist organizations all around the world.”

Duckworth suggested the Iran strike could open a dangerous power vacuum, potentially emboldening extremist groups and putting U.S. troops and citizens abroad at greater risk. She also questioned whether the administration intends to push for regime change — and if so, how that would be managed.

“Okay, what’s your next plan of action?” she asked. “He hasn’t presented that.”

The senator emphasized that Congress has a constitutional responsibility to debate and authorize military force. She urged Trump to appear before lawmakers and explain the strategy, evidence and long-term objectives.

Trump, for his part, has argued that the operation is limited in scope and not the start of another “forever war,” insisting there are no plans to put boots on the ground.

But Duckworth remains unconvinced.

“I’m deeply concerned that American taxpayers — and in particular our men and women in uniform — are going to be paying the price for Donald Trump’s recklessness,” she said.

As tensions escalate in the Middle East, the debate in Washington is intensifying — raising critical questions about war powers, national security and the potential human and financial cost of the conflict.