The Iran War and the Limits of Presidential Power

Stanford’s Allen Weiner examines how the U.S. war with Iran raises questions about the president’s power to wage war and negotiate peace.

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The American war with Iran began with ambitious goals, including preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and potentially bringing about regime change. But the conflict may well be leading to a very different outcome, according to Stanford Law School's Allen Weiner, a scholar of international and human rights law and former State Department lawyer. Just prior to the recent collapse of the tenuous cease fire, Weiner joined podcast host Professor Pam Karlan to discuss how the conflict is arguably strengthening Iran’s most repressive factions while putting economic and diplomatic pressure on the United States.

Weiner traces how the conflict grew out of the collapse of the 2015 nuclear deal, asks whether the new agreement with Iran amounts to a weaker version of that accord, and considers how ceasefires and shifting legal rationales have allowed the administration to sidestep Congress and keep the War Powers clock from running out.

• Allen Weiner >>>law.stanford.edu/jeffrey-l-fisher/Stanford Law School Page (law.stanford.edu/allen-s-weiner)

Connect:

• Episode Transcripts >>>Stanford Legal Podcast Website (law.stanford.edu/stanford-legal-podcast)

• Stanford Legal Podcast >>>LinkedIn Page (linkedin.com/showcase/stanfordlegal)

• Rich Ford >>> Twitter/X (twitter.com/our_ford)

• Pam Karlan >>>Stanford Law School Page (law.stanford.edu/pamela-s-karlan)

• Stanford Law School >>>Twitter/X (twitter.com/stanfordlaw)

• Stanford Lawyer Magazine >>>Twitter/X (twitter.com/@stanfordlawmag)

Chapters

00:00:00 Introduction

00:02:09 Back to the JCPOA—The 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal

00:04:23 From "worst deal ever" to a weaker one

00:04:51 Two rounds of strikes

00:07:11 Regime change that wasn't

00:08:40 The Strait of Hormuz and the global economy

00:09:49 Emboldened by Venezuela

00:11:33 Israel in, NATO out

00:12:27 The new MOU

00:14:31 Israel left off the page

00:17:38 Free transit, for now

00:19:06 Treaty or political commitment?

00:21:36 The War Powers loophole

00:24:26 Can Congress actually enforce the War Powers Act?

00:28:12 Conclusion

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