CFA Condemns US Strikes on Iran

On the morning of February 28, President Trump commenced a massive military operation against Iran without any clear rationale or asking for Congressional approval as is outlined in the Constitution.  

The joint US-Israel strikes hit Iran’s capital Tehran, as well as Qom, Karaj, Kermanshah, Tabriz, and Isfahan. In Minab, the strikes destroyed a girls’ primary school, killing more than 175 Iranian schoolgirls and staff. The violence has now extended into Lebanon and the United Arab Emirates. 

CFA, along with the United Nations, UNESCO, and other unions around the nation, strongly condemns the killing of innocent people, especially children. Such actions can never be justified no matter what the consequences may be. Moreover, we cannot condone the reckless behavior of the Trump administration’s actions, which may plunge our world into further violence, chaos, and political and economic instability. 

We understand that the killing of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, may be perceived by many as a moment for celebration. Under his oppressive rule, we have witnessed widespread human rights abuses as well as unjust policies that severely limit the rights of women, LGBTQIA+ persons, and others, to openly and meaningfully participate in society. The Iranian people have for many years fought this oppressive regime, including in recent mass demonstrations in the country this year.  

Denouncing U.S. provocation is not the same as condoning Iran’s (or any country’s) oppressive leadership, and the Iranian government’s repression and persecution of its people do not absolve the Trump administration of any accountability of its own actions, here or in Iran, Venezuela, or Cuba. Given the number of police murders of Black citizens, the harassment and violence being enacted against immigrants through ICE and Border Patrol, and states like Kansas demanding transgender people turn over their driver’s licenses, we cannot abide the hypocrisy and the pretense of the current administration as being concerned with the lives and wellbeing of people in Iran.  

We call for an immediate end to this violence and war.