Against the War with Iran

WHEREAS, the 2026 military campaign of the United States and Israel against Iran has been an unjust, poorly planned and counterproductive war of choice. It lacks a legitimate just cause for the preemptive use of military force and war. It was undertaken without the express consent of the U.S. Congress and pursued unilaterally without the support or participation of our historic allies in Europe, Asia and the Americas. In the words of Pope Leo, it has inflicted upon the people of Iran an “absurd and inhuman violence”; and

WHEREAS, the Iranian regime is an authoritarian and theocratic regime that has ruled undemocratically for decades, denying Iranians their fundamental rights. It suppresses unions and oppresses women, LGBTQIA+ Iranians, and national and religious minorities. In an act of brutal repression, it slaughtered tens of thousands of peaceful protestors in January of this year. The Iranian regime has sponsored violence and extremism throughout the Middle East. If it were to possess nuclear weapons, it would pose a grave danger to peace in that region and the world. Support for human rights and democratic transformation in Iran, and measures to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons, are entirely legitimate objectives. But this war undermines, rather than advances, these causes; and

WHEREAS, the claim that war is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is unconvincing, as diplomacy has proven more effective in achieving this objective. In 2015, the Obama administration, with the support of the European Union and the other permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, negotiated a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action that established a comprehensive, verifiable system for constraining Iran’s ability to develop nuclear weapons. In return, international economic sanctions against the Iranian regime were lifted. But during the first Trump administration, the United States unilaterally withdrew from this agreement and reinstituted sanctions, leaving Iran with no incentive to refrain from restarting its development of nuclear weapons; and

WHEREAS, given President Trump’s explicit declaration that he would like “to take the oil” of Iran, following his January 2026 actions to take control of Venezuela’s oil production, and given the Chinese economy’s dependence upon Iranian oil, this war is deeply implicated in rivalries among the world’s superpowers; and

WHEREAS, the execution of this war by the United States and Israel has revealed an absence of military and strategic acumen. It was launched in anticipation of a quick and decisive victory that proved vain, with no exit strategy; and

WHEREAS, in the course of this war, Trump has employed rhetoric that is morally indefensible. Particularly egregious was his social media threat that “A whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again.” Empty or not, a threat to exterminate an entire people is completely beyond the pale of acceptable political discourse in a democracy: that an American president used such language as a tool of statecraft will be a lasting stain on our national honor:

RESOLVED, that the AFT calls for an immediate end to the war with Iran. We call upon the United States and Israel to end the use of military force against Iran and the blockade of Iranian ports, and for Iran to end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. As part of a negotiated cessation of hostilities, an agreement must include a verifiable guarantee that Iran will not develop nuclear weapons; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT calls upon the United States Congress to act on its constitutional authority to declare war, as elaborated in the War Powers Act of 1973, and require that the President cease his undeclared war with Iran; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT opposes funding the war with Iran and calls for that funding to be redirected toward investments in education, healthcare and other public goods that strengthen our communities, expand opportunities and improve lives; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT recommits to solidarity with the unions and people of Iran in their fight for democracy and human rights in their nation; and

RESOLVED, that the AFT condemns President Trump’s incendiary rhetoric in the war against Iran, and especially his unconscionable threat to end Iranian civilization.

Adopted May 28, 2026 by the AFT Executive Council