A potential U.S. strike on Iran is exposing a quiet but consequential split inside the Senate Democratic caucus.

Why it matters: The Democratic base strongly opposes war with Iran, but some of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's colleagues are more open to military action — provided Congress has a say.

• Nearly all Democrats are insistent that Congress needs to be consulted, but they are less clear on whether the U.S. should strike Iran to thwart its nuclear ambitions.
• Schumer, like many of his colleagues, is avoiding complicated policy questions by emphasizing Democratic unity on procedural matters.
• We asked Schumer whether he personally supports a strike, and he said: "The administration should come clean and tell the American people their goals." It's a line — and essentially a policy dodge — he's repeated all week.

🚘 Driving the news: Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) is planning to put senators on record next week with a war powers resolution vote, which Schumer is cosponsoring, that would curtail President Trump's authority to strike Iran without congressional approval.

• Senate Republicans killed a similar Democratic effort in January to curb Trump's power to strike Venezuela, with Vice President Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.

⚡️ Flashback: In 2002, Schumer voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq, along with 29 of his Democratic colleagues. Only one other of the 29, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), is still in the Senate.

• Four of the 23 total "no" votes in 2002 are currently in the Senate: Sens. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Jack Reed (D-R.I.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

🔎 Zoom in: Moderate Democrats are more willing to leave the door open to military action, with an important caveat: Congress must be consulted.

• Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) told us this week that Iran "should never have a nuclear weapon" but appealed to the Trump administration to "exercise every bit of diplomacy that we can first."
• Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-Mich.), a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee and former CIA analyst, told us she's "ready to get the brief" and that the president must "be really clear" about his goals.

📢 But the party's left flank is loudly lining up against military action in Iran.

• Trump "has never put forward a rationale for why America should go to war against Iran, because he doesn't have one," Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) told us this week.
• "Donald Trump does not have the authority, and he does not have the backing of the American people to initiate a war with Iran," Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) told us.
• "You can't take out Iran's nuclear program without a ground invasion," Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) told us. "Nobody in this country supports a ground invasion."

The bottom line: With potential strikes in Iran in the coming days and a war powers vote next week, senators in both parties will be forced to go on the record on Iran.

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— Stephen Neukam

The chair and ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee are formally pressing Anthropic and the Pentagon to resolve their dispute before this evening's deadline, a source familiar with the matter told us.

Why it matters: Pressure has been mounting on Congress to step in as the Pentagon and Anthropic engage in a prolonged public battle over the limits of using Anthropic's Claude AI in classified settings.

• We told you last night that Congress was itching to enter the fray over the Pentagon's ultimatum to Anthropic.
• 📪 Sens. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and Reed wrote Anthropic and the Pentagon today, calling for the Pentagon to extend its deadline and urging the two sides to resolve the matter, sources tell us.
• Defense appropriations chair Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and ranking member Chris Coons (D-Del.) also signed the letter.

🤖 Catch up quick: The Pentagon and Anthropic are in a high-stakes clash over the limits Anthropic wants to place on the department's use of its AI model Claude: no mass surveillance or autonomous weapons.

• Anthropic said yesterday it would not accept the Pentagon's demands but would remain committed to negotiations.

What's next: Pentagon officials have said Anthropic has until 5:01pm EST today to agree to their demands or face losing its contract.

— Ashley Gold and Maria Curi

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