After Iran strikes, Healey says she’s focused on Massachusetts security

• Alison Kuznitz

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, JUNE 23, 2025…..Hours after some members of the state’s congressional delegation accused President Donald Trump of violating the U.S. Constitution by ordering U.S. military airstrikes against Iran, Gov. Maura Healey on Monday said she did not know whether his decision was improper.

“I have no idea,” Healey told reporters when asked whether Trump’s order over the weekend was illegal.

“Not in my wheelhouse,” Healey, the former attorney general, added in response to a follow-up question. “I am focused on, you know, whatever security threats are happening with the homeland and within Massachusetts. At this time, I’m glad to be able to report there are none. But we’re going to continue to stay in touch with our federal counterparts on all of this as we move forward.”

At an unrelated press conference earlier Monday, U.S. Rep. Katherine Clark described Trump’s “unilateral decision” to attack Iran as “unauthorized and unconstitutional.”

“Only Congress has the power to declare war and by once again treading on the Constitution, Donald Trump has exposed our troops and the American people to the risk of further escalation,” Clark said at the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts in Boston, where lawmakers gathered to lament the third anniversary of the Supreme Court’s ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade. “We need answers — Congress, the American people, our service members and their families.”

U.S. warplanes struck three nuclear sites in Iran on Saturday, Trump announced on Truth Social. The bombing came as hostilities escalate between Iran and Israel, which launched aerial strikes earlier this month over nuclear threats.

Trump, in a White House address Saturday, said the precision strikes against the Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan sites “were a spectacular military success.”

“Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated,” the president said. “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks will be far greater and a lot easier.”

Iran on Monday retaliated by launching missile attacks against U.S. military bases in Qatar and Iraq, the AP reported.

The U.S. Senate this week could vote on a Sen. Tim Kaine resolution that seeks to curtail Trump’s military authority, according to Reuters. Trump on Truth Social has also berated Republican Rep. Thomas Massie over his similar resolution which looks to block U.S. involvement “from unauthorized hostilities in the Islamic Republic of Iran.”

At the Planned Parenthood presser Monday morning, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley said Congress “should do everything in its power to rein in Trump and to prevent an endless war in Iran.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren said Trump’s “reckless decision” could cause the crisis in the Middle East to escalate into a “deadly cycle of violence.”

“Bombing another country is an act of war. The Constitution is clear: If there is no immediate threat to Americans, to our service members, or to the homeland, the president has no legal authority to order our troops to strike another country. None,” Warren said.

Healey said she and governors from across the country had a phone briefing Sunday with U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem about the conflict in the Middle East.

“I want to thank members of the military, the brave men and women who are serving and are willing to go into harm’s way on behalf of our great country,” Healey said. “So our thoughts are with them and their families.”