People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, this morning
Morning Star, 28 Feb 2026
An emergency demonstration has been called outside Downing Street for 3.30pm today to oppose war on Iran, which could escalate into regional or even world war.
Iranian media reported strikes nationwide, and smoke could be seen rising from the capital Tehran. US President Donald Trump announced the start of “major combat operations” and called for regime change in the country, urging Iranians to rise up in collaboration with the attackers.
A huge US armada has built up in the Middle East in recent weeks, larger than that assembled in the Caribbean before the US bombed Venezuela and kidnapped its president last month. Mr Trump suggested the war could be a bloody one, anticipating US casualties and saying “that often happens in war.”
Talks had been ongoing in Geneva over US insistence that Iran abandon uranium enrichment for its civil nuclear power programme, as Washington claims Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, something it has always denied.
Mr Trump unilaterally tore up the previous agreement on Iranian nuclear power (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, signed in 2015) in 2018, and broke up negotiations on the issue last year by joining an unprovoked Israeli bombing spree as they were under way.
This year’s talks may also have been undertaken in bad faith by the United States, with an Israeli official briefing Reuters that the attacks had been planned for months and the launch date decided weeks ago.
Israel reported yesterday morning that retaliatory Iranian missiles had already begun to hit the country.
Tens of thousands of US troops — and about 4,000 British soldiers — are stationed on bases in the Middle East, which could be targeted by Iran in retaliation.
It is unclear if British bases have been used in any capacity by the US in the attacks. Reports in recent weeks have suggested British authorities objected to involvement in any attack, though Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has also indicated he would be prepared to join US aggression against Iran.
Former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said: “The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked and unjustifiable.
“Peace and diplomacy was possible. Instead, Israel and the United States chose war.
“This is the behaviour of rogue states — and they have jeopardised the safety of humankind around the world with this catastrophic act of aggression.
“Our government must condemn this flagrant breach of international law, and urgently pursue a foreign policy based on justice, sovereignty and peace.”
(Photo credit: MSgt Vincent De Groot 185th ARW Public Affairs, Iowa Air National Guard)
Satellite imagery shows an increase in US military support aircraft, including refueling tankers and surveillance planes, at a Saudi airbase, Reuters reported on 27 February, amid Washington’s threats to launch a new war on Iran.
A high-resolution satellite image from 21 February showed at least 43 aircraft at Saudi Arabia’s Prince Sultan Airbase, a facility long used by US forces.
Four days before, satellite images showed only 27 aircraft visible. By 25 February, the number of aircraft had fallen slightly to 38.
The buildup comes one month after Riyadh claimed it would not allow the US to use its territory to stage a military attack on Iran.
The aircraft visible in the 21 February image included 13 Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers, used for aerial refueling of warplanes, and six Boeing E-3 Sentry aircraft (AWACS), used for surveillance, target detection, and tracking.
Boeing KC-135 Stratotankers were also seen on Friday at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
US President Donald Trump last week threatened Iranian leaders, saying they must agree to a deal within 10 to 15 days. If not, “really bad things” would happen, Trump said.
Chinese commercial satellite imagery has also confirmed the deployment of 16 KC-135 aerial refueling tankers and MIM-104 Patriot air defense systems to Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar.
According to Military Watch Magazine, US-made warplanes such as the F-16 rely heavily on aerial refueling for operations against major state adversaries, making the use of KC-135s critical for any large-scale attack.
Military Watch observed that E-3s carry the largest airborne radars in the world and have the ability to guide missiles fired by warplanes, ships, or ground-based systems to their targets.
However, the viability of the E-3 has increasingly been called into question, amid claims that its radars and other avionics are becoming obsolete.
“This limits situational awareness, particularly against stealth targets such as Iran’s Shahed 191 drones, while also increasing vulnerability to electronic warfare,” the magazine added.
Israeli media observed that one set of Chinese commercial satellite images showed F-22 stealth fighter jets that the US had deployed the Ovda Air Base in southern Israel, where a Patriot air defense battery has also been deployed.
Other Chinese satellite images have documented the movement of US naval destroyers and aircraft carriers across the region, including the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, in Crete.
Amid the buildup, Iranian and US negotiators met in Geneva this week for a third round of indirect talks.
On Friday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi wrote on social media: “Further progress has been made in our diplomatic engagement with the United States.”
“This round of negotiations was the most intensive yet. The talks ended with the mutual understanding that we will continue to discuss in more detail and precision the issues that are essential to any agreement, including the lifting of sanctions and steps related to the nuclear field,” Aragchi added.
The two sides agreed to meet next week in Vienna to discuss technical details, according to Omani Foreign Minister Badr Al-Busaidi, who is mediating the talks.
As US and Israeli bombs fell on Tehran, the Iranian Foreign Ministry on Saturday vowed that the country would defend itself against “criminal aggression” and implored the United Nations Security Council to take emergency action.
The ministry said in a lengthy statement that Saturday’s attacks, which US President Donald Trump characterized as the start of a massive military operation aimed at overthrowing the Iranian government, represent “a violation of Article 2, Paragraph 4, of the United Nations Charter and a clear armed aggression against the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
“The Islamic Republic of Iran notes the grave duty of the United Nations and its Security Council to take immediate action to confront the violation of international peace and security,” reads the ministry’s statement, which noted that the US and Israeli assault began “in the midst of a diplomatic process.”
“The Iranian people are now proud that they did everything they could to prevent war,” the statement continues. “Now is the time to defend the homeland and confront the enemy’s military aggression. Just as we were ready for negotiations, we are more ready than ever for defense. The armed forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran will respond to the aggressors with authority.”
Ben Saul, the UN special rapporteur on human rights and counterterrorism, condemned US-Israeli “aggression against Iran” in a social media post, calling the assault a “violation of the most fundamental rule of international law—the ban on the use of force.”
“All responsible governments should condemn this lawlessness from two countries who excel in shredding the international order,” Saul added.
The Laurel and Hardy negotiating team of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, coupled with Trump’s appalling ignorance of world affairs and megalomania, seem set to push the U.S. into yet another debacle in the Middle East, one the Congress has not approved, and the public does not want.
The demands imposed on Iran by the Trump White House are no more acceptable to the regime in Tehran than those imposed on Hamas in Gaza under Trump’s sham peace plan.
Trump’s demand that Iran shut down its nuclear program and give up its missile capabilities in return for no new sanctions is as tone deaf as calling on Hamas to disarm in Gaza.
But since we have long dispensed with diplomats, who are linguistically, politically and culturally literate, who can step into the shoes of their adversaries, we are being led to another war in the Middle East by our newest coterie of buffoons.
The U.S. and Israel foolishly believe they can bomb their way to decapitating the Iranian government and installing a client regime. That this non-reality-based belief system failed in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya eludes them.
The promise of no new sanctions will not incentivize Iran to broker an agreement. Iran is already crippled by onerous sanctions that have gutted its economy.
This will do nothing to break the economic stranglehold.
Iran will not give up its nuclear program, which has the potential to be weaponized, or its ballistic missile program, which Israel said it would target in an air attack.
Israel’s reputed nuclear arsenal of some 300 warheads is a powerful incentive for Iran to retain the capacity to build a nuclear arsenal of its own. Iran, like Hamas, is never going to render itself defenseless against those seeking its annihilation.
An aerial attack on Iran will not be like the 12-day assault last June against Iran’s nuclear facilities and state and security facilities.
Then Iran calibrated its response with symbolic strikes on Al Udeid air base in Qatar in the hopes that it would not lead to a wider, protracted conflict.
If an aerial assault is launched, Iran will have nothing to lose. It will understand that appeasing its adversaries is impossible.
Iran is not Iraq. Iran is not Afghanistan. Iran is not Lebanon. Iran is not Libya. Iran is not Syria. Iran is not Yemen.
Iran is the seventeenth largest country in the world, with a land mass equivalent to the size of Western Europe. It has a population of almost 90 million — 10 times greater than Israel — and its military resources, as well as alliances with China and Russia, make it a formidable opponent.
The Strait of Hormuz and the Musandam Peninsula on Dec. 6, 2018. (MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain)
Despite Iran’s relative military weakness, when set against the combined forces of the U.S. and Israel, it can inflict a lot of damage. It will do this as swiftly as possible.
Hundreds of American troops will likely be killed. Iran will certainly shut down the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important oil chokepoint that facilitates the passage of 20 percent of the world’s oil supply.
This will double or triple the price of oil and devastate the global economy. It will target oil installations along with U.S. ships and military bases in the region.
Mounting losses and a huge spike in oil prices will provide the fodder for Trump, and his vile counterpart in Israel, to ignite a sustained regional war.
This is the cost of being governed by imbeciles. God help us.
Chris Hedges is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who was a foreign correspondent for 15 years for The New York Times, where he served as the Middle East bureau chief and Balkan bureau chief for the paper. He previously worked overseas for The Dallas Morning News, The Christian Science Monitor and NPR. He is the host of show “The Chris Hedges Report.”
By Linus Höller, Defense News, Feb 23, 2026, 11:54 AM
Four U.S. Air Force Boeing KC-135 Stratotanker air refueling aircraft are parked at Sofia’s Vasil Levski Airport on Feb. 19, 2026. (Nikolay Doychinov/AFP via Getty Images)
BERLIN — Bulgaria’s Sofia International Airport briefly suspended civilian air operations twice over the weekend while a fleet of American military aircraft staged at the facility, fueling speculation that Washington is positioning forces ahead of a potential strike on Iran.
A Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), verified by the Bulgarian investigative outlet Obektivno.BG, showed the airport restricted non-military operations on Feb. 23 from 01:15 to 02:50 local time and again on Feb. 24 from 01:05 to 03:35. Commercial flights are not ordinarily scheduled during this time frame.
Airport authorities attributed the brief closures to routine runway repairs and explicitly denied any link to the American military presence.
Photographs circulating on social media showed at least six KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft from the 6th Air Refueling Wing at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida, along with C-17 and C-130 cargo planes and Boeing 747s typically used for troop transport, parked at the airport’s Terminal 1, according to Obektivno.BG.
Bulgaria’s Ministry of Defense confirmed the U.S. Air Force presence, describing the deployment as support for “training related to NATO’s enhanced vigilance activities,” with American personnel engaged solely in aircraft maintenance. Caretaker Foreign Minister Nadezhda Neynsky acknowledged her ministry had limited information and had ordered officials to collect additional details.
The Sofia staging is a small part of a much larger American military mobilization. The Bulgarian investigative journalists have tracked more than 120 U.S. Air Force aircraft that crossed the Atlantic within days, including four dozen F-16s, three squadrons of F-35A stealth fighters, and 12 F-22 Raptors.
Similar deployments, including F-22s staged at RAF Lakenheath, preceded last June’s Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group is also en route to join the USS Abraham Lincoln, which is already positioned in the Arabian Sea.
U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has refused to grant Washington permission to use two critical British-controlled installations − RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, the European forward base for U.S. heavy bombers including the B-2 and B-52, and the joint US-UK facility at Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean − for any potential strike on Iran, The Times of London reported.
The buildup coincides with high-stakes nuclear diplomacy. American President Donald Trump, speaking at the inaugural meeting of his Board of Peace on Feb. 19, said he had given Tehran roughly ten days to reach a nuclear agreement, warning that “bad things will happen” if talks collapse. U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met an Iranian delegation in Geneva last week, with Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi describing agreement on a set of “guiding principles,” though significant gaps remain between the two sides.
Bulgaria, a NATO member since 2004, maintains a Defense Cooperation Agreement with Washington signed in 2006 that permits U.S. forces to use Bulgarian military facilities.
Linus Höller is Defense News’ Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds a master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.
According to The Washington Post, the US has shifted at least 150 military aircraft to Europe and the Mideast over the past week as it prepares for a potential attack on Iran
Twelve US F-22 Raptor fighter jets that departed the UK on Tuesday have arrived at an Israeli Air Force base in southern Israel, Ynet has reported, as the US continues its massive military buildup in the Middle East to prepare for a potential attack on Iran.
The F-22s arrived in the UK last week, part of the more than 150 US military aircraft that have shifted to Europe and the Middle East since February 17, as tracked by The Washington Post.
An Israeli official speaking to China’s Xinhua news agency about the US F-22 deployment said that the Israeli military is preparing for all possible scenarios, including an “Iranian attack or retaliatory strike.” The US defended Israel from Iranian retaliatory strikes during the 12-Day War in June 2025, though many missiles got through US air defenses.
A US F-22 Raptor fighter jet takes off from the Savannah Air National Guard Base in Georgia on January 23, 2026 (US Air National Guard photo)
The Ynet report said that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford is still heading east in the Mediterranean Sea and has passed Crete. Once it arrives near Israel’s coast, it will be the second US aircraft carrier positioned in the region to prepare for an attack on Iran, joining the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been operating in the Arabian Sea.
US officials previously told The New York Times that Ford and its three destroyer escorts are likely to be initially deployed near the coast of Israel to defend Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities and towns. The US defended Israel from Iranian counterattacks during the 12-Day War, though many Iranian missiles got through US air defenses, which included US Navy destroyers firing SM-3 missiles.
The Ford was deployed to the Mediterranean after spending several months in the Caribbean, where it supported “Operation Southern Spear,” the US military mission that involved bombing small boats and the attack on Venezuela to abduct Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The crew of the Ford has been on an extended deployment and will break the post-Vietnam War US carrier deployment record if it remains at sea through mid-April.
An Air Force E-3 Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft conducts aerial operations. [Photo: Air Force Master Sgt. Matthew Plew ]
The Trump administration is assembling the largest concentration of American military force in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, placing the United States on the brink of a massive illegal war against Iran that could last weeks or months and engulf the entire region.
Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago and one of the foremost analysts of American air power, wrote on X Saturday: “This represents 40-50% of the deployable US air power in the world. Think air power on the order of the 1991 and 2003 Iraq war. And growing. Never has the US deployed this much force against a potential enemy and not launched strikes.”
The Jerusalem Post and the Media Line, in an article published Saturday, reported that there are “now four American carrier strike groups either in the wider Middle East or moving toward it. That alone changes the equation. In the surrounding waters, roughly a dozen guided-missile destroyers are spread out, some near the Strait of Hormuz, others operating closer to the Red Sea.” These publications are the only outlets to report that four carrier strike groups are involved in the buildup.
Col. Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, told the Media Line: “As I understand it, this is the biggest military buildup in the Middle East since 2003.” He described the current scale as greater than the 12-day war in June 2025. “It could run into weeks,” he said. “It could well be a fairly long, sustained bombing campaign against Iran.” Of the force now assembled, he said: “It’s needed in order to sufficiently damage the regime. Not a token strike.”
Brig. Gen. Amir Avivi, founder of the Israel Defense and Security Forum, said the strategic objective had shifted beyond Iran’s nuclear facilities. “Now we are talking about taking down the regime. It is something completely different,” he told the Media Line. “I think in two weeks it could be done.”
The New York Times reported Sunday that the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest warship, was “steaming south of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea” and would soon be off the coast of Israel. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is already operating in the Arabian Sea. The Times reported that US President Donald Trump discussed plans for strikes in a White House Situation Room meeting on Wednesday attended by Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.
According to the Times, Trump has told advisers that if diplomacy or an initial targeted attack does not force Iran to capitulate, “he will consider a much bigger attack in coming months intended to drive that country’s leaders from power.”
Targets under consideration include the headquarters of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, nuclear sites and the ballistic missile program. Gen. Caine, who told Trump there was “a high likelihood of success” before the Venezuela operation, has not been able to deliver the same reassurances about Iran, “in large measure because it is a far more difficult target.”
Politico reported Thursday that the buildup had already cost an estimated $350 million to $370 million and that costs are mounting rapidly. It noted that 17 US warships now sit in the region, a significant portion of the roughly 68 warships deployed around the globe. The Wall Street Journal reported that sailors aboard the Ford have been at sea for eight months, with morale deteriorating and crew members considering leaving the Navy.
The military escalation takes place amid a deepening political crisis within the United States. On Thursday, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not authorize presidential tariffs, striking down the central pillar of Trump’s trade war. Trump responded by calling the justices a “disgrace to our nation” and immediately imposing new tariffs under a different statute. It was the most significant judicial rebuke of presidential power in decades.
Edward Luce of the Financial Times commented: “Past performance suggests he could lash out in other ways. Given his instinct for unfiltered discretion, the Supreme Court’s ruling could lead to overcompensation in other spheres. US military action is the one area where the executive branch can almost always count on judicial forbearance.”
A war against Iran, a country of 90 million people that has not attacked the United States, would constitute a war of aggression, the “supreme international crime” as defined at the Nuremberg trials.
This silence is the continuation of a pattern documented throughout the buildup. Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia endorsed the military threat, saying he thought it was “appropriate the president has all the options on the table.” Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey explicitly opposed a bipartisan resolution by Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna that would have prohibited the use of military force against Iran without congressional authorization, declaring that “Congress must not limit our ability to protect Americans and our allies.”
Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania went on Newsmax to pledge his support for bombing Iran, saying of last year’s strikes: “I absolutely was fully supportive and was cheering for that Midnight Hammer.”
Neither House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Bernie Sanders, nor Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made any statements over the weekend on the US threats against Iran. The Democrats funded every weapon now being assembled for the attack.
The $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed the House in December, with 115 Democrats voting yes. In the Senate, the vast majority of Democrats voted in favor. In January, 149 House Democrats voted for $839 billion in defense appropriations.
The war drive against Iran is the latest expression of the global eruption of US imperialism. Having seized the president of Venezuela and installed a puppet regime, having threatened to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal, the Trump administration is now preparing to wage aggressive war against a nation of 90 million people to impose regime change and seize control of the Middle East’s resources and strategic chokepoints.
The Democratic Party’s complicity in these preparations exposes once again that both parties represent the interests of the same ruling class, and that no faction of the political establishment opposes the escalating global war.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has entrusted Iran‘s top national security official with the survival of the country in the case of attacks or assassination, a report by The New York Times said.
According to the report published on Sunday, several senior officials and members of the Revolutionary Guard Corps told the daily that Khamenei has issued a series of directives aimed at securing Tehran’s governance.
This includes four layers of succession for military and government posts he appointed, alongside instructions given to senior officials to name up to four replacements.
In the case that communication with him is obstructed or he is killed, Khamenei has also delegated responsibilities to a close-knit group of confidants, based on information shared with the Times by senior officials, diplomats and military commanders.
Ali Larijani is named in the article among the handful of close political and military associates who will ensure the survival of Iran in the event of US-Israel attacks or the assassination of Tehran’s top leadership.
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The security chief was appointed in August as secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, the body that holds ultimate authority over the country’s security and foreign policy decisions.
During the 12-day war with Israel in June, Khamenei named three candidates who would potentially succeed him.
While Larijani is almost certainly not among the contenders for the title of Supreme Leader, as he is not a senior Shia cleric which is necessary for the role, he is among the top candidates for managing the country if Iran’s upper echelon is wiped out, the report said.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the parliament speaker, and former president Hassan Rouhani are also among those listed by sources as possible leaders.
What Larijani’s return as security tsar reveals about Iran
The report also makes mention of contact between Washington and Tehran amid the unrest in Iran.
According to the Times, American envoy to the region Steve Witkoff sought to reach the country’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, following US President Donald Trump’s threats to strike Iran if it killed protesters.
Araghchi then asked President Masoud Pezeshkian for authorisation to communicate back to Witkoff, but was directed by Pezeshkian to get approval from Larijani instead, underscoring his role.
The report indicates that the president appears resigned to deferring authority to Larijani.
Against this backdrop of US-Iran tensions, speculation on Khamenei’s next moves comes amid growing tensions despite diplomatic talks this week between the two countries.
The talks were a last-ditch attempt to avert threatened military action by the US, with Khamenei warning Trump on Tuesday he would not be able to “destroy” the Islamic Republic.
According to AFP, talks were being held discreetly, with diplomatic police blocking the private access road to Oman’s residence in the municipality of Cologny.
USS Gerald R. Ford [Photo: US Navy/Seaman Alyssa Joy]
The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest warship ever built, transited the Strait of Gibraltar on Friday and entered the Mediterranean, placing the United States within days of having the military force in position for a massive illegal assault on Iran.
Two US officials told Reuters on Friday that military planning had reached “an advanced stage,” with options including “targeting individuals” and “pursuing leadership change in Tehran.” Asked whether he was considering a limited strike, US President Donald Trump told reporters: “I guess I can say I am considering that.”
The New York Times reported Tuesday that the buildup had “progressed to the point” that Trump could take military action “as soon as this weekend.” More than 50 fighter jets, two carrier strike groups and dozens of refueling tankers have been deployed. B-2 bombers have been placed on higher alert.
The Wall Street Journal detailed the hardware pouring into the region: F-35 and F-22 stealth fighters, F-15Es, F-16s, EA-18G electronic warfare jets, nine destroyers armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, and the submarine USS Georgia. The Associated Press called it “the largest force of American warships and aircraft to the Middle East in decades.”
An attack on Iran would constitute a war of aggression—the “supreme international crime”—as defined at the Nuremberg trials. Iran has not attacked the United States. There is no UN Security Council authorization. There is no congressional authorization. Trump has made clear he regards none of this as a constraint. “I don’t need international law,” he told the New York Times in January.
The threat of attack comes as Iran’s government has been desperately appealing to the Trump administration to negotiate. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Friday that a draft counterproposal would be ready “in the next two, three days” following indirect talks in Geneva this week and that a deal could be achieved “in a very short period of time.”
Iran’s diplomatic efforts will count for nothing, because for the Trump administration “diplomacy” is merely a pretext and cover for murder and extortion. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro sought to negotiate with the Trump administration in the months before the January raid that seized him and his wife, offering as late as the day before to discuss a deal.
The same fraud was carried out against Iran last year. The White House gave Iran a 60-day ultimatum. Five rounds of talks were held. On June 8, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff sat in a war-planning session at Camp David alongside the CIA director and defense secretary. Five days later, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, bombing more than 100 targets and assassinating senior commanders and nuclear scientists. On June 22, seven B-2 bombers launched Operation Midnight Hammer, striking Iran’s nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan. Iran’s foreign minister told the UN: “We were attacked in the midst of an ongoing diplomatic process.”
The White House demands total capitulation—no uranium enrichment on Iranian soil, dismantling of the ballistic missile program and abandonment of regional allies. US officials say privately they see no prospect of Iran meeting these terms. The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that if Iran refuses to comply after an “initial limited military strike,” “the US would respond with a broad campaign against regime facilities—potentially aimed at toppling the Tehran regime.”
The war against Iran is a component of the eruption of American militarism all over the world. The carrier now entering the Mediterranean to attack Iran was redeployed from the Caribbean, where it took part in the seizure of Venezuelan President Maduro. The attack on Venezuela, the threatened seizure of Greenland and the Panama Canal, and the war against Iran are components of a single strategy: the use of military power to control the world’s critical resources and chokepoints in preparation for conflict with Russia and China.
There is overwhelming opposition to war with Iran. A Quinnipiac poll in January found 70 percent of voters oppose military action. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found 69 percent say the US should not get involved in Middle East military action unless directly threatened.
Despite this public opposition, the Democratic Party has systematically enabled Trump’s war preparations, because it speaks for the same constituency in the capitalist ruling class, which sees the colonial subjugation of the whole world as a means to prop up US global hegemony.
Democratic Senator Mark Warner of Virginia told MS NOW on February 14: “I think it’s appropriate the president has all the options on the table.”
On Friday, Democratic Representative Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey issued a bipartisan statement with Republican Representative Mike Lawler of New York explicitly opposing a resolution by Representatives Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna that would prohibit the use of military force against Iran without congressional authorization. “This resolution would restrict the flexibility needed to respond to real and evolving threats and risks signaling weakness at a dangerous moment,” they wrote. “Congress must not limit our ability to protect Americans and our allies.”
Democratic Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania declared on Newsmax on February 11 his support for bombing Iran, pledging to vote against any war powers resolution. “I absolutely was fully supportive and was cheering for that Midnight Hammer,” he said. “And, now, if that’s required for a second round, I’ll be the one Democrat to absolutely say that’s entirely appropriate.”
On Friday, as the Ford entered the Mediterranean and the administration announced plans for “leadership change” and “targeting individuals,” neither House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, nor Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, nor the leaders of the “progressive” wing of the Democratic Party—Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who last weekend at the Munich Security Conference repeated the administration’s regime change talking points about Iran—issued any statement.
The Democrats have voted to fund every weapon now being assembled for this attack. The $901 billion National Defense Authorization Act passed the House 312-112 in December, with 115 Democrats voting yes. In the Senate, it passed 77-20 with the vast majority of Democrats in favor. In January, 149 House Democrats voted for $839 billion in defense appropriations.
Protesters hold signs at the US Capitol to for the Anti-Iran War Rally on January 09, 2020 in Washington DC, United States. The House adopted a war powers resolution Thursday with the aim of limiting President Donald Trump’s military actions against Iran.
(Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
It’s getting late, but it’s not yet too late. No war on Iran!
President Donald Trump seems to think he is King of the World, not just the United States. Even as he convenes his “Board of Peace” (though calling it the “Board of Imperial Conquest” would be more apt) it looks like the US will soon illegally attack Iran, again, as it did last June. Congress needs to do its job representing the will of the American people, get a spine, step up to its Constitutional duty over matters of war and peace, and stop him.
The US has attacked seven countries (eight if one includes the US of A, and most people in Minneapolis and many other cities surely think so) since Trump’s recrudescence. Ongoing talks with Iran do not appear to be promising, with unrealistic US demands, especially zero nuclear energy enrichment by Tehran and the dismantling of its missile program, which would leave it vulnerable to further Israeli attacks. Trump’s “beautiful armada” including two aircraft carrier battle groups with supporting attack aircraft is the largest US military buildup in the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
This massive (and expensive) deployment of forces is exactly what one does in planning for a large-scale military offensive against Iran, just as the region begins the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. This would go far beyond the more limited strikes that have taken place in the past, including last June’s attack that killed 1,000 people. “It harkens back to what I saw ahead of the 2003 Iraq war,” said retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a senior fellow and military expert at Defense Priorities. “You don’t assemble this kind of power to send a message. In my view, this is what you do when you’re preparing to use it. What I see on the diplomatic front is just to try to keep things rolling until it’s time to actually launch the military operation.”
Lest anyone forget, this crisis is all of Trump’s making, as he abrogated the multilateral agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA, negotiated under President Barack Obama, which effectively and verifiably capped Iran’s nuclear program well short of the ability to build The Bomb.
Trump should not have the last word on whether to attack Iran again. Next week, the House of Representatives will hold a vote on H. Con. Res. 38, the Iran War Powers Resolution, according to the measure’s co-sponsor US Rep Ro Khanna (D-CA). US Rep Thomas Massie (R-KY) is the other lead sponsor, and the only Republican on the resolution at present, but a vote could be close, if mostly partisan. Just a few Republican votes could make the difference.
There is no news on a Senate vote at this time, though there is a companion resolution, S. J. Res 104, introduced by Senators Tim Kaine (D-Va.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Should the House resolution pass, the Senate vote might ensue quickly, as time is of the essence.
In a recent Quinnipiac poll, 70% of American voters said they oppose military action against Iran. It is time for Congress to fulfill its Constitutional authority and vote to require authorization of any military action against Iran.
It is no surprise the majority of Americans oppose a war with Iran. Similarly, most Iranians oppose a military strike on their country. Now, it’s up to us to demand that Congress do its job and pull us back from the precipice of another disastrous war. Concerned individuals should call their US Representative via the Congressional switchboard at 202.224.3121, or 833-STOP-WAR
Also, on Monday at 2:30pm ET/11:30am PT, peace and constitution-loving people can join a virtual Action Hour on Zoom, where we’ll mobilize together to demand Congress stop this unauthorized war before it starts.
The National Iranian American Council Action (NIAC) is organizing this event, co-sponsored by Peace Action & MPower Action, to equip you with immediate action you can take to urge lawmakers to oppose war and stand with the American and Iranian people. We will also be offering a brief “How to Advocate” 101 training to empower you to get face-to-face meetings with your lawmaker’s office.
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Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Kevin Martin is the president of Peace Action and Peace Action Education Fund, with over 40 years experience as a peace and justice organizer. He is helping coordinate the Cease-Fire Now Grassroots Advocacy Network.
People watch as smoke rises on the skyline after an explosion in Tehran, Iran, this morning
(Photo credit: MSgt Vincent De Groot 185th ARW Public Affairs, Iowa Air National Guard)
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