Sanders: The U.S. Senate Must be Clear: No War with Iran
February 28, 2026
WASHINGTON, Feb. 28 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) today released the following statement after the United States and Israel launched strikes on Iran.
President Trump, along with his right-wing extremist Israeli ally Benjamin Netanyahu, has begun an illegal, premeditated and unconstitutional war. Tragically, Trump is gambling with American lives and treasure to fulfill Netanyahu’s decades-long ambition of dragging the United States into armed conflict with Iran.
The U.S. Constitution is clear. It is the Congress that declares war, not a president acting unilaterally. The Senate must reconvene immediately and vote on a pending War Powers Resolution, which I will strongly support.
Further, this attack against Iran is a clear violation of international law and will create increased instability in an already dangerous world. If the United States and Israel can launch an attack against a sovereign nation, so can any other country. Might does not make right. It creates international anarchy, death, destruction and human misery.
The American people were lied to about Vietnam. The American people were lied to about Iraq. The American people are being lied to again today — and once again, it is ordinary people who will pay the price.
Continue reading at: sanders.senate.gov/press-releases/
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Mayor Mamdani: Americans do not want another war with Iran
Former US House Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene on Sunday urged Vice President JD Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard to speak out against the US war against Iran, citing their previous opposition to a conflict with the Islamic Republic.
“[Vance] and [Gabbard] you both need to speak out against the war in Iran. People are paying attention, very close attention. Silence won’t cut it. You were both on record repeatedly, publicly, and loudly against going to war with Iran,” Greene wrote on X.
“Our friend, Charlie Kirk was adamantly against war with Iran. You cannot be silent. Americans are dying. You both know this is not what we campaigned for and this is 100% what we said would not happen. We said, I said, you said: NO MORE FOREIGN WARS AND NO MORE REGIME CHANGE. All we wanted was America FIRST. This is not it,” she added.
“As we plunge headlong into another catastrophic war, Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries’ throat-clearing and process critique only serves Trump and the war machine.”
The top Democrats in the US Congress, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, faced backlash on Saturday over what critics described as tepid, equivocal responses to President Donald Trump’s illegal assault on Iran — and for slowwalking efforts to prevent the war before the bombing began.
While both Democratic leaders chided Trump for failing to seek congressional authorization and not adequately briefing lawmakers on the details of Saturday’s attacks, neither offered a full-throated condemnation of a military assault that has killed hundreds so far, including dozens of children, and hurled the Middle East into chaos.
Schumer (D-NY) — who infamously worked to defeat the 2015 nuclear deal that Trump later abandoned during his first White House term, setting the stage for the current crisis — said he “implored” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio to “be straight with Congress and the American people about the objectives of these strikes and what comes next.”
“Iran must never be allowed to attain a nuclear weapon,” he added, “but the American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East when there are so many problems at home.”
Jeffries (D-NY), a beneficiary of AIPAC campaign cash, said in his response to the massive US-Israeli assault that “Iran is a bad actor and must be aggressively confronted for its human rights violations, nuclear ambitions, support of terrorism, and the threat it poses to our allies like Israel and Jordan in the region.”
“The Trump administration must explain itself to the American people and Congress immediately, provide an ironclad justification for this act of war, clearly define the national security objective, and articulate a plan to avoid another costly, prolonged military quagmire in the Middle East,” said Jeffries.
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