Demonstrators gathered in Federal Plaza before marching around the Loop on Sunday afternoon to protest the United States joining Israel in military strikes inside Iran.
“This is a serious escalation that could lead to a multi-national conflict likely to spin out of control,” the organizers wrote in a joint statement Sunday. “The reckless move by the U.S. has severely destabilized what passes for today’s global order and raises the specter of another global war with the strong possibility of a nuclear exchange. … As citizens of the United States, we have a special responsibility to raise our voices in opposition to this insanity.”
The U.S. dropped 30,000-pound bombs and fired more than 30 missiles targeting a number of Iran’s uranium enrichment sites early Sunday — continuing the campaign Israel began more than a week ago — and President Donald Trump earlier warned there would be additional strikes if Tehran retaliated against U.S. forces. Tens of thousands of American troops are based in the Middle East.
“There will either be peace or there will be tragedy for Iran,” Trump, who acted without congressional authorization, wrote on social media.
Amid fears of a wider regional conflict, the Trump administration sent a message that it wanted to restart diplomatic talks with Iran. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that the U.S. “does not seek war,” but Tehran said the time for diplomacy had passed and that it has the right to defend itself.
Ali Reza, an Iranian immigrant from the Chicago suburbs who came to the U.S. more than 50 years ago, said that although he didn’t support the Iranian regime, and believed Israel had a right to exist — so long as it respected its neighbors’ right to exist — he didn’t think Iran’s nuclear weapons program was the intended target of the strikes.
Reza pointed to Israel’s attacks on Syria, Lebanon and Gaza over the last year, and said he fears their attacks could expand to target other countries in the region.
“I don’t think the problem is nuclear; they want to change the Middle East map,” he said. And “I don’t believe in regime change from outside, from the U.S. or Israel. … We have to reject it and say no war. This is not the people’s war, they’re just going to be massacred because of this government’s reactionary attempts to expand.”
Jenna Ja, a Logan Square resident, said Sunday’s march reminded her of the protests she attended decades ago against the Iraq War.
She called for congressional oversight of military intervention and said the U.S. “didn’t need to be co-signing” Israel’s attacks or getting involved in another foreign war.
Organizers said to expect another, larger rally downtown Monday at 5 p.m.
Contributing: AP