Anti-war protesters rally in major cities after US strikes Iran
Damita Menezes and Tom Palmer
Police work to separate pro-Israeli counter protesters from a protest against U.S. military strikes in Iran, outside the U.S. Consulate in Toronto, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (Arlyn McAdorey/The Canadian Press via AP)
Demonstrators rally outside the White House, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Washington, to protest the U.S. military strike on three sites in Iran early Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protester shouts slogans while carrying banners during a protest against U.S. strikes on Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
People march through the streets during a protest against U.S. strikes on Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Olga Fedorova)
Demonstrators rally outside the White House, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Washington, to protest the U.S. military strike on three sites in Iran early Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Demonstrators rally outside the White House, Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Washington, to protest the U.S. military strike on three sites in Iran early Sunday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
A protester with a portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump hold slogans as they condemn the recent bombings of the US against Iran during a rally in Quezon city, Philippines on Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
A protester shouts slogans as they condemn the recent bombings of the US against Iran during a rally in Quezon city, Philippines on Sunday June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Aaron Favila)
Protestors carry Iranian national flags and a poster of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, while chanting anti U.S. and Israel slogans after the attacks on nuclear sites in Iran, in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Morocans attend a protest in support of Palestinians, in Rabat, Sunday, June 22, 2025, with the banner in Arabic reads "Moroccan people are united against aggression and normalization and support resistance until liberation." (AP Photo/Mosa'ab Elshamy)
Activists and supporters of Socialist Unity Centre of India-Marxist attend a protest against Israeli and U.S. attacks across Iran, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Activists and supporters of Socialist Unity Centre of India-Marxist attend a protest against Israeli and U.S. attacks across Iran, in Kolkata, India, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Bikas Das)
Iranian protesters chant slogans during a protest following the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Iranian protesters hold up posters showing the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, and the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini in a protest following the U.S. attacks on Iranian nuclear sites Sunday, June 22, 2025, in Tehran, Iran. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
People attend a rally in support of Palestinians and to protest against Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, June 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
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(NewsNation) — Anti-war activists took to the streets in multiple U.S. cities Sunday to protest President Donald Trump’s decision to use U.S. military might to strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
The demonstrations were largely peaceful, as sign-waving crowds gathered as part of a coordinated nationwide protest that also included rallies in Los Angeles, Austin, Boston, Cincinnati, Chicago, Portland and Washington, D.C.
Demonstrators gathered in Times Square in New York City, carrying anti-war signs that read, “Trump is a War Criminal” and “No US-Israel War on Iran.”
The crowd was also chanting “No US War Crimes” as they marched through the popular tourist destination in Midtown Manhattan.
Supporters of President Donald Trump were also at the scene in Times Square, holding pro-Trump flags.
In Chicago, about 100-125 people showed up to protest the use of force in Iran.
One demonstrator, who identified himself as an Iranian refugee, said it’s been four to five days since he spoke with his family in Iran.
There was a Trump supporter at the scene wearing a MAGA hat. He did exchange some words with the protestors, saying they had incorrect information, and the president did not start a war with Iran because he’d been promising to get rid of their nuclear capabilities for over 10 years.
Protesters also assembled outside the White House under the banner “No War on Iran! Trump is a War Criminal!”
The demonstration was organized by several activist groups, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation, ANSWER Coalition and the National Iranian American Council.
Protest organizers condemned the airstrikes as violations of international law and the U.S. Constitution.
In a statement announcing the Washington rally, organizers called Trump’s bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities “an outright war crime” that “violates the UN Charter, international law and the U.S. Constitution.”
U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday called the strikes a success that obliterated Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
The groups warned that the military action “threatens to set into motion a regional or even global war with massive casualties, nuclear radiation, and catastrophic consequences.”
Activists accused Trump of breaking campaign promises to end military conflicts, stating he “lied during the campaign when he said he was going to end the ‘forever wars’ and bring about peace.”
The organizers drew comparisons to the 2003 Iraq invasion, claiming Trump “is no different from George W. Bush, who lied about ‘weapons of mass destruction.'”
The protest groups demanded “an immediate end to US and Israeli attacks on Iran and its sovereignty” and called for redirecting military spending toward domestic priorities, including health care, education and infrastructure.
