US congressional debate over President Donald Trump's decision to launch strikes in Iran took centre stage on flagship US network and cable shows on Sunday.
The only consensus among politicians that was clear - from both Democrats and Republicans - seemed to be that the death of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was a positive development from the standpoint of the US.
Almost immediately following US and Israeli strikes on Iran early on Saturday morning, however, criticism - much of it from Democrats - lamented that Mr Trump did not seek congressional approval before the attacks.
On Sunday, those criticisms and concerns intensified.
"I can understand Trump taking a bold gamble, but I disagree with this gamble at this moment," Democratic Senator Chris Coons on CNN's State of the Union.
Both Democratic and Republican US presidents have been criticised after authorising military strikes without congressional approval.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, widely known for being reticent about the use of US military force, once again voiced his concerns about US strikes on Iran, quoting the sixth US president, John Quincy Adams.
"As Adam’s wrote, America: 'goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy'," he posted on X.
"The Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely," Mr Paul added.
Some congressional Democrats and Republicans have indicated that within days they plan to force a vote on something called the War Powers Act, that would potentially limit Mr Trump's ability to continue military action in Iran, though it likely faces an uphill battle to secure a majority.
It also potentially sets up a constitutional battle that might end up being litigated in the courts.
Just hours after the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, Republican Senator Tom Cotton said that "The Ayatollahs learnt the hard way that President Trump means what he says."
In Sunday appearance on CBS's Face The Nation, he doubled down, though he also acknowledged a forthcoming congressional vote on Mr Trump's military actions.
"I expect you'll see a majority of Republicans supporting the [US] troops and the President's decision to finally eliminate the threat of Iran," he said.
In an appearance on CNN, Pennsylvania Democratic Senator John Fetterman said that although he supported Mr Trump's decision to launch strikes to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, he did not necessarily embrace a long-term US mission.
"Of course it’s not limitless," Mr Fetterman said when asked about the extent of US military action in Iran.
Mr Trump's decision to launch perhaps the most consequential military strikes on Iran in recent memory, largely go against the grain of his words on the campaign trail both in 2016 and 2024, where he often spoke of his disdain for military conflict.
With regard to the recent strikes on Iran, he has so far pledged to not commit US ground forces.
"There's no example I know of in modern history that regime change has happened solely by air strikes," a concerned Mr Coons told CNN on Sunday.
The Democratic Senator also said that the Trump White House would be ill advised to compare this particular military endeavor to previous US military actions.
"It [Iran] lacks the internal divisions that were so prevalent both in Venezuela and Iraq," he said.
"This is going to be much tougher and much less predictable ... "I hope the people who voted for Trump with the mindset of lessening foreign wars will keep this in mind."
On NBC's Meet the Press, Democratic Representative Ro Khanna didn't mince words about the forthcoming vote on President Trump's attack on Iran.
"The point of this resolution is to say we do not want another war in the Middle East, or at least congress should opine on that," he said.
US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, however took the opposite stance and left no room for debate as to where he stood on President Trump's decision to strike Iran.
"The largest state sponsor of terrorism, Iran, is close to collapsing," he told NBC. "The leader of the largest state sponsor of terrorism and his entertainer dead."
