Our Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane community clearly cries: “No War on Iran.” 

The Iranian people are not our enemy, and we refuse to be manipulated and made afraid. We reject racism and Islamophobia. It’s a clear pattern: Trump casts blame for the suffering of our people on immigrants, and this week, he’s at it again: same playbook, new target. Those who benefit from war and militarism at home and abroad are a tiny number of rich and powerful people who are already on top and who are quickly advancing their agenda to the detriment of everyday people. 

We must unequivocally direct blame where it belongs: on the billionaires and politicians who are enriched and empowered by global war.

War on Iran would cause death, destruction, and suffering of ordinary people across the Middle East. The strikes on Iran are an extension of the alliance between the U.S. and Israel, whose authoritarian regime has carried out a genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza for 624 days. The U.S. has funded the murders of at least 55,000 people and enabled the starvation of nearly 2,000,000 Gazans. We must act now to stop U.S. funded genocides and war–before tens of thousands if not millions of more lives are claimed. 

War on Iran would also serve to further consolidate the Trump administration’s authoritarian power, further undermine our civil liberties and our movements, and rapidly expand the power of the carceral state, including ICE. After 9/11, we saw an unprecedented increase of state surveillance of Muslim and Arab communities that has now become standard operating procedure. 

We’ve seen this playbook before. Throughout the 20th century, American wars have been strategically fueled by the racist propaganda, justifying acts of brutality against members of our human family around the world and giving cover to American imperialism. US interventions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, Libya, Syria, and Palestine—have devastated entire regions, displaced over 38 million people, and resulted in roughly 900,000 direct deaths and 3.6 million indirect. The campaigns have also cost the American public at least $8 trillion, half of which has been directly funneled to war contractors. 

The U.S. military budget in 2025 is $849.8 billion while our communities are facing cuts to lifeline programs. Poor and working class communities of all races overwhelmingly bear the brunt of the choices made by rich white men in power, including experiencing the “poverty draft” that sucks them into the military in disproportionate numbers. Across the U.S. people are broadly opposed to war on Iran and would rather see our government invest in the basics that we need to live and thrive: care for our children, access to quality healthcare, housing, education, clean air and water, and a functioning democracy and economy.  

The people in power are creating a scapegoat mentality so that they can deflect attention from the harm they are inflicting on ordinary people inside and outside of the United States. 

This work is a fight against what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. named as the Triplets of Racism/Dehumanization, Materialism and Class Exploitation, and Militarism.  Rooted in our universal commitment to human rights, we must oppose

  • The War on Black People
  • The War on Women and Trans People 
  • The War on The Palestinian People 
  • The War on the American People through Project 2025 and the Big Ugly Destruction Budget Bill
  • Wars for Oil 
  • Wars for Water
  • War for Profits 

and now 

  • The War on the Iranian People 

That is why we amplify calls to Defund the Police, Defund the Pentagon and Abolish ICE — Because all of these forms of militarism, driven by capitalism and powered by white supremacy, profit from violent dehumanization of those we are told to fear. 

We’ve stopped a drive to war before, by mobilizing and pushing for Congressional debate to bring a greater spotlight, and we can do it again. We call for Congressional vote on the War Powers Resolution. 

To defeat US fascism, we have to confront US militarism. Our task remains the same as ever: to stay in committed, strategic action, and to bring more and more people with us into the multiracial, antiracist, anti-war movement we need. 

To our siblings in Iran and beyond: we are with you. We will not stop fighting for a world where no one has to live under the shadow of U.S.-funded bombs, forever wars, and the violence of war and militarism.