Rand Paul to Mike Pompeo: You don't have Congress' "permission" to go to war with Iran

Amid escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, pressed Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on whether the administration's recent decision to designate Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization was a way to justify possible future military action in Iran, CBS reported.

Citing a longstanding 2001 resolution enacted after the attacks on September 11th that allows the U.S. to strike its attackers, Pompeo testified on Capitol Hill that he'd "leave it to lawyers" to determine if that gave the U.S. carte blanche to attack the Iranian regime. 

While Pompeo asserted that the resolution was "not part of the decision making process" in designating the IRGC as a terrorist organization, Paul urged the secretary that it was "pretty important question if you think you have the power to go to war with Iran."

"Only Congress can declare war. You do not have our permission to go to war with Iran," Paul warned the secretary on Wednesday.