Skip to main content

← Opponents and the Cost

Democrats, Libertarians, and Others Who Opposed the Iran War

Opposition to the Iran war crossed party lines. The America First Republicans on the opponents page were joined by progressive Democrats, libertarians, veterans, and a growing number of mainstream members of both parties. This page collects their words, because together they show that the case against the war was never a fringe position. It also shows where the pro-Israel lobby's pressure landed on the Democratic side.

The Democrats who led​

Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.), co-author of the war powers resolution with Thomas Massie: "No president should be able to bypass Congress's constitutional authority over matters of war" (Massie press release, June 17, 2025). To his party: "Donald Trump took the anti-war lane from us in 2016 and 2024. We have a chance to take it back by clearly opposing Netanyahu's strikes and being a bold voice for diplomacy." (Drop Site News, June 18, 2025). By September 2026 his platform began: "No war in Iran / No aid to Israel" (Khanna on X, September 16, 2026). He and Massie also moved to strip Section 219 from the defense bill.

Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) forced the Senate's first vote on the June 2025 strikes; it failed 47 to 53, with Rand Paul the only Republican voting yes (see the vote record).

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the No War With Iran Act in June 2025 and, in March 2026, a bill to block more bombs to Israel: "72,000 killed in the genocide in Gaza. 1 million+ displaced in Lebanon. 1,700 settler attacks in the West Bank. And now war in Iran. Sending 20,000+ more bombs to Netanyahu isn't just immoral—it's illegal." (FMEP round-up, March 27, 2026). As rendered in a widely shared post: "A lot of US Middle East policy is dictated by Israel. It was Israel who decided they wanted to go to war" (captured search summary).

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) led the July 2026 House war powers vote that passed 214 to 208. She described AIPAC's pressure on her directly: "I did see that AIPAC took issue with my statement. They were taking on J Street for endorsing me, which was ridiculous." (Drop Site News, June 18, 2025). In March 2026: "AIPAC spent $20 MILLION in the Illinois primaries, hiding behind fake Super PACs." (FMEP, March 27, 2026).

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) spoke some of the bluntest words of the war, as quoted in a September 2026 thread and by Larry Elder:

"Last week, I was briefed that Iran posed no imminent threat and wasn't close to building a nuclear weapon, and that the negotiations Israel disrupted could have succeeded." (June 2025)

"Israel forced us into this."

"We are not going to be able to achieve any of our stated objectives. There is practically no way we can destroy their nuclear program... unless we launch a ground invasion."

"Donald Trump has lost this war. America is weaker. Iran is stronger." (Meet the Press, August 9, 2026)

(@lamps_apple on X, September 8, 2026; Larry Elder on X, September 7, 2026).

The statements on the day of the attack​

When the 2026 war began, House Democrats put out statements that named what the war meant for American service members and families. A compilation preserved several (Google Doc compilation):

  • Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.): "Donald Trump launched direct strikes against Iran without congressional authorization—endangering regional stability, American service members, and U.S. national security. Make no mistake—this is illegal."
  • Rep. Suhas Subramanyam (D-Va.): "Last year, we were told that Iran's nuclear capability was obliterated and it would take years to rebuild. Now we're told it poses an existential threat to our country and requires war to destroy it."
  • Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.): "This is an attempt to launch a long-sought after, ill-conceived regime change war that will destabilize Iran as well as the entire Middle East... The U.S. has a dark history of regime change in Iran with the CIA overthrowing the democratically elected Prime Minister in 1953."
  • Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.): "Trump promised peace. Here we are again, waking up to him waging another illegal war."
  • Rep. Claire Valdez (D-N.Y.): "Without legal authority or justification, the U.S. and Israel have launched a regime change war in Iran that will only bring more death, destruction and chaos."

Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) reported that "the main Trump official on arms control refused to answer my question on Israel's nuclear capabilities and told me to ask the Israeli government." Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pointed out that the President's "Peace Envoy," Jared Kushner, was in the Middle East "trying to raise $5 BILLION for his private equity firm" in the middle of the war. Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) welcomed "More and more candidates refusing @AIPAC's dirty political tactics and money." (FMEP, March 27, 2026). Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.): "Trump's war against Iran is an illegal war." (as quoted by @Truthtellerftm, April 29, 2026).

Where the lobby's pressure landed​

Not every Democrat stood firm. During the June 2025 war, AIPAC urged House Democrats to say they "stand with Israel"; the reporters who broke the story counted 28 who used that phrase or close to it (see the June 2025 campaign). Rep. Jared Golden of Maine, who has received over $500,000 from AIPAC according to OpenSecrets figures cited in one post, was the only Democrat to vote against the April 16, 2026 resolution that failed 213 to 214 (@shasanzel on X, April 17, 2026). In the Senate, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania repeatedly voted no. Critics also noted that AIPAC funded Democrats too: "AIPAC funded Kamala Harris too you know that right?" (Reddit r/politics, March 9, 2026).

The political ground moved anyway. By June 2026, the New York Times reported, two House Democratic incumbents in New York had lost primaries to challengers who cast them as too uncritical of Israel (New York Times, June 29, 2026); Israel's own Times of Israel wrote that "American pro-Israel activists may have just had their worst week ever" (FMEP round-up, June 26, 2026).

Libertarians, veterans, and Republicans who switched​

  • Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.): "The Constitution is very clear that no president can bomb another country or begin a war with the country without the permission of Congress." He voted yes on every war powers resolution (Drop Site News, June 18, 2025). See Deep State: Rand Paul.
  • Col. Douglas Macgregor, retired Army: "Israel and its domestic American supporters captured the White House, the Congress, and largely control US defense and intelligence agencies" (Macgregor on X, May 26, 2026).
  • Daniel Davis, retired Army lieutenant colonel and four-time combat veteran, on reports of ground operations: "If I were a family member of any of these troops and my loved one was sent to death for the vanity of one man, I would be outraged." (Davis on X, March 25, 2026).
  • Rep. Zach Nunn (R-Iowa), after two Iowa service members were killed: "With the negotiating window closed, sustained combat operations now require congressional authorization." Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.): "we also cannot continue to put American troops in harm's way without a clear objective and exit strategy or send another generation into an endless regime change war in the Middle East." (Jewish Insider, September 16, 2026).
  • Former Rep. John J. Duncan Jr. (R-Tenn.): "We are fighting Netanyahu's war against Iran at great expense to U.S. taxpayers." (see the capture thesis).

Status: Ro Khanna, Tim Kaine, Bernie Sanders, Pramila Jayapal, Chris Murphy, Melanie Stansbury, Suhas Subramanyam, Dina Titus, Nikema Williams, Claire Valdez, Joaquin Castro, Elizabeth Warren, Mark Pocan, John Larson, Jared Golden, John Fetterman, Rand Paul, Douglas Macgregor, Daniel Davis, Zach Nunn, Nancy Mace, and John J. Duncan Jr. are alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

Last updated on