The United States and Israel last Saturday launched a military attack on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Bombs have continued to drop since then, with President Trump calling the operation “one of the largest, most complex, most overwhelming” ones the world has seen. Iran is striking back — six U.S. service members were reported dead Tuesday.
Trump said in a video on the White House YouTube channel that the aim is to eliminate threats from the Iranian regime, which has “waged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder” for nearly 50 years. After the U.S. “obliterated” three Iranian nuclear sites last June, Trump said, federal officials warned the regime never to pursue nuclear weapons again.
“They’ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can’t take it anymore,” Trump said, promising to “raze their missile industry to the ground.” To the Iranian people, he said: “When we are finished, take over your government.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that “the hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military.”
While numerous federal lawmakers agree Iran should not have nuclear weapons, many have demanded transparency from the Trump administration about the war’s aims, cost and expected duration.
Among them was U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), who said Americans do not want another long, costly conflict in the Middle East, with so many problems at home.
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) in a statement condemned Trump’s “unauthorized war” on Iran, for which he did not seek or receive congressional approval. But she said also that “no tears should be shed” for Iran’s regime, whose “campaign of terror” has killed Americans and whose leaders have pursued nuclear weapons for decades.
“Let me be clear: That doesn’t give this or any President the right to send Americans into harm’s way in another regime change war in the Middle East,” Meng said. She and 60 other representatives on Tuesday wrote a letter urging Rubio to help Americans stranded in the Middle East return home.
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) called the action “a reckless abuse of the president’s power,” urging House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to call Congress back to Washington to vote on it.
U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) also called for a vote, saying Trump lacks not only the constitutional authority, but the temperament and judgment to “act in such a reckless fashion.”
“Americans voted for lower costs, not forever wars,” Gillibrand said.
The Senate was set to vote on a war powers resolution to curb further military action Wednesday, and the House today, March 5. But with lawmakers divided, both measures were expected to fail.
Rubio said congressional leaders were notified of the strike 48 hours after hostilities began, as required by law. The War Powers Act was meant to bar the president from entering the U.S. into conflicts overseas without authorization from Congress, but he said “no presidential administration has ever accepted” it as constitutional.
“I agree with the President’s objectives that Iran can never be allowed to obtain nuclear capabilities,” U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau, Queens) said on X. “The President must now clearly define the national security objective and articulate his plan to avoid another costly, prolonged war in the Middle East.”
Meeks said also that the Trump administration’s objectives in Iran are not those of a limited strike, but a prolonged war. Rubio said he did not know how long the operations would take, but they would continue until the stated aims are achieved. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the operation’s clear goals set it apart from past “endless” wars, such as Iraq.
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens) in a statement called the war “unlawful” and “unnecessary,” saying it will be “catastrophic.”
“Bombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region and this will be no different,” Ocasio-Cortez said. She added that Trump “walked away” from discussions with Iran about measures that could have staved off war.
Rubio said Monday that there are no diplomatic exchanges between the United States and Iran at this point.
On a local level, Mayor Mamdani said the strikes mark a “catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.”
“Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war,” Mamdani said in a statement. “Americans do not want this.
“They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace.”
City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Whitestone) said on X in response to Mamdani’s statement that “Iranian New Yorkers are thrilled today and see right through” the mayor. On Facebook, she said the Iranian people have “finally achieved freedom,” and that the “decisive action” was necessary to take down the regime.
The day after the attacks began, hundreds of Iranians took to Times Square in celebration of Khamenei’s death.
“May this be the start of long term liberation for the Iranian people, who deserve freedom from the regime that oppresses them, and peace for the entire region,” state Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) said on X.
There were nuanced feelings among the diaspora.
Rosa, a 33-year-old Iranian American in Woodside, said the days since the strike have been overwhelming — she opposes war and is concerned to see the death toll rise, but she acknowledged the joy that Iranians abroad have expressed at Khamenei’s death, after years of suffering under his dictatorship. She said she has never lived in Iran and cannot speak to that firsthand, but she has seen the pain the regime has caused in her family.
“Just to be clear, I’m not upset that he’s dead. I’m just a little bit concerned by how things played out,” Rosa said, adding that U.S. intervention in other countries has often led to death and destruction.