In a video released shortly following the strikes, Donald Trump declared: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people. Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas and our allies throughout the world.” Trump also warned that there may be US casualties.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz claimed the strikes were launched to “preemptively remove threats to the state of Israel.” Meanwhile, a state of national emergency has been declared in Israel in preparation for Iranian retaliation.
The US has been gathering a large fleet near Iran for weeks now in an attempt to force Iranians to agree to abandon its nuclear program and limit its missile program, among others. This military build-up includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, which just months ago had been deployed to the Caribbean as part of the US threats against Venezuela.
The attacks against Iran were launched amid ongoing talks, the third round of which ended yesterday in Geneva between the US and Iran over Iran’s number program. The talks, under Omani mediation, had achieved substantial progress, as per Iranian and Omani claims.
Iranian officials were quoted by Reuters that they are preparing for a launch of a retaliatory strike, claiming it would be “overwhelming” when it comes. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) has released an initial statement indicating that the first wave of large-scale missile and drone attacks toward Israel has begun in response to the aggression.
Iranian media outlets and government sites are currently down and are rumored to have been hit with cyber attacks.
Anti-war response
The unilateral military strikes by the US and Israel have meanwhile been met with widespread rejection from progressive and anti-war groups across the world.
In the United States, a national day of action to demand an end to the unilateral aggression has been declared by a coalition of grassroots organizations, including the ANSWER Coalition, National Iranian American Council, 50501, American Muslims for Palestine, The People’s Forum, Palestinian Youth Movement, and CODEPINK. Mobilizations are set to take place in dozens of cities across the US on Saturday, February 28, to emphasize “the people of this country reject another endless war and will take to the streets now and make our voices heard.”
Brian Becker, National Director of the ANSWER Coalition, said, “This is an unprovoked act of war that Trump carried out to pursue his twisted dream of ‘running’ the whole world. It is completely illegal under both the constitution and international law. Iran has not attacked the United States and has no intention to. This is a war of choice that Trump is dragging the country into as part of his openly colonial foreign policy that seeks a world where he ‘runs’ everything.”
The international anti-war platform No Cold War echoed the condemnations of war and rejected the “pre-emptive” nature of the US and Israel’s attacks, declaring “there was nothing pre-emptive about these strikes, since Iran has neither threatened Israel nor the United States, nor has Iran built up its military capacity to do so.” No Cold War argues, “These strikes are an act of aggression, a violation of the United Nations Charter. Iran has said repeatedly that it is uninterested in attaining nuclear weapons, and it has negotiated in good faith with the United Nations, the United States, and the European Union to prevent any continuation of conflict. Both Israel and the United States have acted in bad faith, uninterested in negotiations and only focused on war.”
The International People’s Assembly released a statement strongly condemning the strikes against Iran “conducted without clear justification” and calling them “an act of war against all the peoples of the region [that] threatens an even wider and more destructive conflict after two and half years of genocidal war against the people of Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.”
The international platform launched a call to social movements, political parties, labor unions, and all people of conscience across the world to “demonstrate their opposition to this aggression.,” declaring, “It is essential to uphold the principle that sovereign nations have the right to determine their own future.”
This article originally appeared in Peoples Dispatch on February 28th, 2026
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