FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 28, 2026
Media Contact: Melissa Garriga | [email protected]
CODEPINK Statement on the U.S.-Israeli War on Iran: From ‘Peace’ to Prolonged War
On Saturday, February 28th, the United States and Israel bombed Iran’s capital. Shortly after, President Donald Trump announced a planned prolonged war against Iran and stated that American servicemembers would likely be killed in the process. He addressed Iranians, telling them to stay inside because bombs would be dropping all over Iran, and called on them to overthrow their government. Iran’s state media has already reported dozens of female students dead after an elementary school in Minab, southern Iran, was struck. The self-proclaimed “peace president” has launched yet another endless war – risking millions of human lives. The entire world should be outraged.
This morning’s attack is a continuation of the U.S. and Israel’s attempts to enact a bloody regime change in Iran, disregarding the sovereignty of the 90 million Iranians living there. Throughout both of Trump’s terms, his administration has marched us closer to war with Iran, including:
- Withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) on May 8, 2018, a landmark diplomatic agreement imposing restrictions on Iran’s capacity for nuclear weapon development;
- Enacting a “maximum pressure” strategy centered on inhumane, severe economic sanctions that have directly impacted the livelihood of all 80 million Iranian citizens;
- Assassinating Major General Qasem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020, in Iraq;
- And carrying out three bombing campaigns against Iranian nuclear sites, despite having intelligence that Iran had no nuclear weapons, on June 21, 2025, while in the middle of negotiations with Iran over the nuclear program.
The most recent “justification” for attacking Iran is the stalled nuclear talks with the United States. The farce of Iran "almost building out its nuclear programs" has been used by Israel and the US for decades. If this were truly about limiting the scope and use of nuclear weapons, the Trump Administration would be engaging in good-faith diplomacy. Instead, this was a deliberate propaganda war against Iran in an attempt to justify bombing innocent people to benefit the U.S. proxy state of Israel.
In addition to the false narratives about nuclear weapons, Trump and Netanyahu have used the protests in Iran as an impetus for bombings, but what the protestors want is a better quality of life. We know freedom and peace can’t come from the U.S. bombing a country; we learned that in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Vietnam. War kills people; it doesn’t save them.
The economic situation in Iran is dire, and it is incredibly human to demand better in the face of such hardship. However, bombing the country will do nothing but kill people who are demanding an affordable life, tearing people’s lives apart for the conquest of more land and regional control. What the U.S. should be doing is lifting the sanctions that have starved Iran of medical supplies and food while degrading Iran’s currency.
Our demands are simple:
- No war on Iran: Nearly 70% of Americans oppose another war and reject the endless cycle of military interventions carried out in their name.
- End the U.S. sanctions: War will not fix the economic situation in Iran; it will kill working-class Iranians. U.S.-imposed sanctions are strangling the Iranian economy.
- No bloody regime change: Iran has done nothing to threaten the United States.
- Diplomacy now: Iran did not leave the nuclear deal with the U.S.; Trump did.
The world does not need another U.S.-Israeli-made catastrophe. The Iranian people deserve sovereignty. The Middle East deserves actual peace. And people in the United States deserve a future not stolen by endless war.
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