New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Sunday opposed the US military aggression in the Middle East, calling it an “illegal war” and stating that “Americans do not want this.”

“Today’s military strikes on Iran — carried out by the United States and Israel — mark a catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression. Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war. Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace,” Mamdani wrote on X.

Former US vice president Kamala Harris, who contested against President Donald Trump in 2024, said that US troops were being put on harm’s way.

“Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice,” Harris wrote on X.

"I will do my part to uphold our Constitution by voting YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie’s War Powers Resolution. Every member of Congress must join us in rejecting this aimless war."

Member of the US Congress, Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, asked every member of Congress to reject this “aimless war” after representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie moved a War Powers Resolution.

“The American people are once again dragged into a war they did not want by a president who does not care about the long-term consequences of his actions. This war is unlawful. It is unnecessary. And it will be catastrophic.

Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead. President Trump flippantly acknowledged the possibility of American casualties, stating “that often happens in war.”

This is a deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people.

Violence begets violence. We learned this lesson in Iraq. We learned this lesson in Afghanistan. And we are about to learn it again in Iran.”

Cortez said that the Congress authorises war and the President does not.

“I will do my part to uphold our Constitution by voting YES on Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie's War Powers Resolution. Every member of Congress must join us in rejecting this aimless war,” she wrote.

Mainstream Democrats remain cautious. New York Senator Chuck Schumer said on Saturday, “Iran must never be allowed to attain a nuclear weapon but the American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East.”

While maintaining his stance, last year, Schumer said, American support for Israel should be “ironclad” according to a report by the Wall Street Journal.

A recent survey conducted by Associated Press between February 19th and 23rd showed that the majority of Americans do not have trust in Trump’s military judgement, but also saw Iran as the enemy.

Only three out of 10 Americans had high trust in Trump, while about 61 percent saw Iran’s nuclear program as a threat.

While many Democrats have responded with firm objections to US military involvement or cautious warnings about the long-term risks of escalating the conflict, some Iranians in the US took to the streets in celebrations at reports that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has been killed.

An Iranian woman living in Japan holds a sign at a demonstration near the Iranian Embassy (Reuters)

Iranian Americans react to the news of the death of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei (Reuters)

California, with by far the largest Iranian-American demographic, of over 210,000, saw jubilant crowds on the streets of Iranians waving the Iranian flags.

Mahlagha Jaberi, an Iranian-American model and social media personality with over four million followers on Instagram said that her vote for Trump was in hope that it would bring changes to Iran. “Thank you President Trump for giving us the Iranian people a chance to get our country back.”