The United States and Israel last Saturday launched a military attack on Iran that killed its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.<\/p>\n
Bombs have continued to drop since then, with President Trump calling the operation \u201cone of the largest, most complex, most overwhelming\u201d ones the world has seen. Iran is striking back \u2014 six U.S. service members were reported dead Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Trump said in a video on the White House YouTube channel that the aim is to eliminate threats from the Iranian regime, which has \u201cwaged an unending campaign of bloodshed and mass murder\u201d for nearly 50 years. After the U.S. \u201cobliterated\u201d three Iranian nuclear sites last June, Trump said, federal officials warned the regime never to pursue nuclear weapons again.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019ve rejected every opportunity to renounce their nuclear ambitions, and we can\u2019t take it anymore,\u201d Trump said, promising to \u201craze their missile industry to the ground.\u201d To the Iranian people, he said: \u201cWhen we are finished, take over your government.\u201d<\/p>\n
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters Monday that \u201cthe hardest hits are yet to come from the U.S. military.\u201d<\/p>\n
While numerous federal lawmakers agree Iran should not have nuclear weapons, many have demanded transparency from the Trump administration about the war\u2019s aims, cost and expected duration.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Flushing) in a statement condemned Trump\u2019s \u201cunauthorized war\u201d on Iran, for which he did not seek or receive congressional approval. But she said also that \u201cno tears should be shed\u201d for Iran\u2019s regime, whose \u201ccampaign of terror\u201d has killed Americans and whose leaders have pursued nuclear weapons for decades.<\/p>\n
\u201cLet me be clear: That doesn\u2019t give this or any President the right to send Americans into harm\u2019s way in another regime change war in the Middle East,\u201d Meng said. She and 60 other representatives on Tuesday wrote a letter urging Rubio to help Americans stranded in the Middle East return home.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-Jamaica) called the action \u201ca reckless abuse of the president\u2019s power,\u201d urging House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) to call Congress back to Washington to vote on it.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cact in such a reckless fashion.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAmericans voted for lower costs, not forever wars,\u201d Gillibrand said.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cno presidential administration has ever accepted\u201d it as constitutional.<\/p>\n
\u201cI agree with the President\u2019s objectives that Iran can never be allowed to obtain nuclear capabilities,\u201d U.S. Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-Nassau, Queens) said on X. \u201cThe President must now clearly define the national security objective and articulate his plan to avoid another costly, prolonged war in the Middle East.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meeks said also that the Trump administration\u2019s 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\u2019s clear goals set it apart from past \u201cendless\u201d wars, such as Iraq.<\/p>\n
U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-Bronx, Queens) in a statement called the war \u201cunlawful\u201d and \u201cunnecessary,\u201d saying it will be \u201ccatastrophic.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBombs have yet to create enduring democracies in the region and this will be no different,\u201d Ocasio-Cortez said. She added that Trump \u201cwalked away\u201d from discussions with Iran about measures that could have staved off war.<\/p>\n
Rubio said Monday that there are no diplomatic exchanges between the United States and Iran at this point.<\/p>\n
On a local level, Mayor Mamdani said the strikes mark a \u201ccatastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war,\u201d Mamdani said in a statement. \u201cAmericans do not want this.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace.\u201d<\/p>\n
City Councilwoman Vickie Paladino (R-Whitestone) said on X in response to Mamdani\u2019s statement that \u201cIranian New Yorkers are thrilled today and see right through\u201d the mayor. On Facebook, she said the Iranian people have \u201cfinally achieved freedom,\u201d and that the \u201cdecisive action\u201d was necessary to take down the regime.<\/p>\n
The day after the attacks began, hundreds of Iranians took to Times Square in celebration of Khamenei\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
\u201cMay 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,\u201d state Assemblymember Nily Rozic (D-Fresh Meadows) said on X.<\/p>\n
There were nuanced feelings among the diaspora.<\/p>\n
Rosa, a 33-year-old Iranian American in Woodside, said the days since the strike have been overwhelming \u2014 she opposes war and is concerned to see the death toll rise, but she acknowledged the joy that Iranians abroad have expressed at Khamenei\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust to be clear, I\u2019m not upset that he\u2019s dead. I\u2019m just a little bit concerned by how things played out,\u201d Rosa said, adding that U.S. intervention in other countries has often led to death and destruction.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States and Israel last Saturday launched a military attack on Iran that killed its supreme leader,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154991,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[878,2065,877,16660,14670,60,6827,64155,9,24,63,2304,122,124,123,14753],"class_list":{"0":"post-154990","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-alexandria-ocasio-cortez","9":"tag-chuck-schumer","10":"tag-grace-meng","11":"tag-gregory-meeks","12":"tag-iran","13":"tag-israel","14":"tag-kirsten-gillibrand","15":"tag-mayor-mamdni","16":"tag-new-york","17":"tag-new-york-city","18":"tag-nyc","19":"tag-president-trump","20":"tag-queens","21":"tag-queens-headlines","22":"tag-queens-news","23":"tag-tom-suozzi"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154990","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154990"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154990\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}