BETHLEHEM, Pa. — About 25 people gathered at the corner of Wyandotte and Third streets in South Bethlehem on Saturday afternoon to protest the joint United States and Israeli military strikes on Iran, calling for an end to the violence hours after President Donald Trump announced what he called “major combat operations” against the country.
The emergency demonstration, organized by the Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialists of America and the Lehigh-Pocono Committee of Concern (LEPOCO), began at 4 p.m.
Israeli and U.S. officials said the strikes killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, though Iran denied the claim.
The Iranian Red Crescent said more than 200 people were killed and roughly 700 others were injured across the country.
Iran, which the U.S. State Department has designated a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984, killed thousands of civilians in a crackdown on nationwide protests that began in late December.
Human rights organizations documented more than 7,000 deaths. Khamenei ordered security forces to “crush the protests by any means necessary,” according to two Iranian officials briefed on the directive, as reported by The New York Times.
Trump cited the regime’s killing of protesters as part of his justification for the strikes.
Leo Atkinson, an organizer with the Lehigh Valley Democratic Socialists of America, said the strikes were not authorized by Congress and would deepen civilian suffering.
Asked how he reconciled his antiwar stance with the Iranian government’s killing of its own people, Atkinson said he did not believe U.S. military intervention was the answer.
“I think the United States is uniquely without moral standing to be the police in the world,” Atkinson said, citing the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Atkinson said he did not want to see innocent people die under any government but felt a responsibility to speak out when his own country was dropping bombs.
“When my country is the one doing the killing, when they’re the ones dropping the bombs, I feel like it’s our responsibility to stand up and say, we do not support this,” Atkinson said. “Just as I would say citizens of other countries have a right and a responsibility to do that when their government’s the one doing the killing.”
Asked about the reported killing of Khamenei, Atkinson said his concern was for civilians and urged de-escalation.
“I would focus on all the civilian life that has already been lost and probably will continue to be lost if this continues to escalate,” he said.
Protesters gather on the corner of Wyandotte and Third streets near a church during a demonstration against U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2026, in South Bethlehem, Pa. (Jai Smith / Lehigh Daily)
Nancy Tate, who works at the LEPOCO Peace Center in Bethlehem and helped organize the protest, said the groups pulled the event together within hours of the strikes.
She said she believed the United States should have continued diplomatic negotiations rather than launching military action.
“I don’t think our going and killing more people is a good response,” Tate said.
Asked whether other nations should intervene when a government is killing its own people, Tate said the response should not come through bombing.
“I think the international community should react to that, not with bombs,” Tate said.
Tate said no country should have nuclear weapons and called for disarmament, but said the United States lacked credibility to police other nations’ arsenals while maintaining its own.
“We have nuclear weapons. How can we be running around the world telling other people they can’t have nuclear weapons?” Tate said.
Videos verified by CNN showed some Iranians in the streets of Tehran cheering and celebrating after reports of Khamenei’s death.
Amanda Zaniesienko, an attendee, said she was driven to the protest by reports of children killed in the strikes. Iran’s judiciary said at least 85 girls died when a strike hit an elementary school in the southern city of Minab.
“There are numbers of children who were killed in one of the bombings and it just can’t keep happening,” Zaniesienko said.
Asked about Iran’s record of killing its own civilians, Zaniesienko said she did not condone the regime’s actions but did not believe the strikes were justified.
“I don’t think their people should be mistreated for sure,” Zaniesienko said. She added that she did not believe Iran posed an imminent nuclear threat.
Organizers encouraged residents to contact their elected officials. Pennsylvania’s two U.S. senators had already voiced support for the strikes.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., posted on X early Saturday morning, praising the operation and breaking with most of his party by opposing a War Powers resolution to block further military action.
He later appeared on Fox News, where he directly referenced the Iranian government’s crackdown.
“Iran massacred 30,000 of their own people right now,” Fetterman said. “This war is not about the Iranian people. It’s about this poisonous regime.”
U.S. Sen. David McCormick, R-Pa., also backed the strikes, writing on X that the Iranian regime “has killed Americans, threatened Israel and our allies in the region with their ballistic missile and nuclear ambitions, and butchered tens of thousands of its own people.”
“They are the world’s number one sponsor of terror,” McCormick said.
The protest took place at the same South Bethlehem intersection where LEPOCO, a peace organization founded in 1965, has held weekly vigils for years.
Organizers also listed the office number for Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., who represents Pennsylvania’s 7th Congressional District and sits on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
Mackenzie posted on X Saturday evening that Khamenei “and 40 of his top leaders have been killed” after “refusing America’s latest diplomatic entreaties.”
“The world will become a safer place in the long run because of President Trump’s actions,” Mackenzie said. “As our military continues to carry out these major combat operations in Iran, we pray for our service members.”
Trump said the operation, which the Pentagon dubbed “Operation Epic Fury,” was aimed at dismantling Iran’s missile program. Both Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called openly for regime change in Iran.
Trump addressed Iranians directly, telling them to “take over your government” once the operation ended.
Iran responded by launching retaliatory missile strikes against U.S. military assets in several Gulf states, including Bahrain, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
The U.S. military reported no American casualties as of Saturday evening.
Negotiations between the Trump administration and Iran in Geneva ended on Thursday without a deal.
On Friday, Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi, who mediated the talks, told CBS News that a peace deal was “within our reach.” Trump said the same day he was “not happy” with how Iran was negotiating.
Tate encouraged residents to make their voices heard.
“Whatever they feel, they should be communicating with their elected officials,” Tate said.
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