by Adam Johnson | Feb 25, 2026 | Article, Democrats, Iran, Opinion, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Trump
Just as they did with the Venezuelan attack in early January, the ongoing starvation of Cuba, and the bombing of Iran last summer, Democratic leadership in Congress is once again throwing its de facto support behind Trump’s militarism with conspicuous silence and limp process criticisms, suppressing genuine pushback and working to prop up every premise of his bellicosity. As Democrats shrug in the face of a build up to war with Iran, it’s clear once again that, when it comes to matters of bombing, sanctions, genocide, and wars of aggression, the US functionally has no opposition party.Despite it being over a week since Trump began his massive military buildup targeting Iran, neither Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries has released a single press release or social media post about Iran or the threats Trump is leveling against it. And when they do discuss it, always after being forced to by reporters, they hand-wring in vague terms or make process criticisms about Trump not “making his case to the American people” or some other such shallow critique. Schumer, in particular, refuses to criticize a war on Iran in principle, only complaining about Trump filling out the right paperwork:
.@SenSchumer on potential Iran strikes, ahead of Congressional closed-door briefing: “The administration has to make its case to the American people as something as important as this.” pic.twitter.com/1qNKFCnyob— CSPAN (@cspan) February 24, 2026
Despite the fact that only 14% of Democrats support an attack on Iran and 75% explicitly oppose it, this anti-war sentiment is nowhere to be found in Democratic leadership who refuse to support, and are likely suppressing, a war powers resolution proposed by
by Glenn Diesen | Feb 25, 2026 | Article, Europe, NATO, Politics and Movements: International, Reprint, Russia, Ukraine
by Maximillian Alvarez | Feb 25, 2026 | Iran, Middle East, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Trump
With President Trump marshaling the largest buildup of US military forces in the Middle East since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the threat of an imminent conflict—or even a major war—between the US and Iran is ever present. TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez speaks with journalist Jeremy Scahill of DropSite news about where things stand now, the fragile state of this week’s talks between the US and Iran, and all that hangs in the balance.
Guest:
Jeremy Scahill is an independent journalist, author and filmmaker. He is co-founder of the investigative news organization Drop Site News. Scahill is author of the international best-selling books Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army and Dirty Wars: The World is a Battlefield. His film, Dirty Wars, won widespread acclaim and was nominated for an Academy Award in 2013 for Best Documentary Feature.
Additional links/info:
Jeremy Scahill & Murtaza Hussain, DropSite News, “Iranian officials to Drop Site: Tehran is showing “unbelievable level of flexibility” in talks to prevent US war”
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Alina Nehlich
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. A proofread version will be made available as soon as possible.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Welcome everyone to the Real News Network podcast. I’m Maximillian Alvarez. I’m the editor in chief here at The Real News, and it’s so great to have you all with us. We’re recording this podcast on Tuesday, February 24th, and I genuinely don’t know if the United States will be at war with Iran by the time that you hear it. In their latest report for DropSite News, Jeremy Scahill and Murtaza Hussain write,
The U.S. and Iran are headed to a new
by Marc Steiner | Feb 24, 2026 | education, Gaza, Israel, Palestine, Podcast, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, The Marc Steiner Show, Trump
Bending to economic coercion and political pressure from the Trump administration, once-venerable institutions like Columbia University have compliantly become third-party collaborators in the assault on our Constitutional rights. In this episode of the Marc Steiner Show, Marc speaks with Amy E. Greer and Zal K. Shroff, two members of former Columbia student Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team, about how the persecution of Khalil and other Palestine solidarity protestors is reshaping the future of free speech in America.
Guests:
Amy E. Greer is an associate attorney at Dratel & Lewis, and a member of Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team. Greer is a lawyer and archivist by training, and an advocate and storyteller by nature. As an attorney at Dratel & Lewis, she works on a variety of cases, including international extradition, RICO, terrorism, and drug trafficking. She previously served as an assistant public defender on a remote island in Alaska, defending people charged with misdemeanors, and as a research and writing attorney on capital habeas cases with clients who have been sentenced to death.
Zal K. Shroff is an assistant professor at CUNY School of Law and director of the Equality & Justice In-House & Practice Clinic. Shroff is a civil rights lawyer and has been a lead attorney in more than two dozen impact cases across the United States spanning police and prosecutorial accountability, voting rights, First Amendment protest/political speech, race and religious discrimination, conditions of confinement, and poverty discrimination.
Additional links/info:
Marc Steiner, The Marc Steiner Show / TRNN, “Trump’s government hasn’t won its case against Mahmoud Khalil—yet”
Maximillian Alvarez, TRNN, “‘Call Amy!’: Lawyer for Mahmoud Khalil reveals how he won his freedom”
Credits:
Producer: Rosette Sewali
Studio Production: David
by Glenn Diesen | Feb 24, 2026 | Article, China, Opinion, Politics and Movements: International, Reprint, Russia
by Jake Johnson | Feb 24, 2026 | Article, Iran, Politics and Movements: International, Politics and Movements: US, Reprint, Trump
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Feb. 24, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
President Donald Trump admitted Monday that a US assault on Iran would be disastrous for the Middle East nation’s people as he considers options for a military attack, reportedly drawing private warnings from the United States’ top general.
In a Truth Social post, Trump pushed back against reports that Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has voiced concerns about the potentially massive risks of attacking Iran, a country of more than 90 million people. Trump has previously claimed that Caine believed any military conflict with Iran would be “something easily won.”
“He has not spoken of not doing Iran, or even the fake limited strikes that I have been reading about, he only knows one thing, how to WIN and, if he is told to do so, he will be leading the pack,” Trump wrote of Caine in his Monday post.
The US president—who blew up a landmark diplomatic agreement with Iran during his first term—added that if a new deal with the Iranian government doesn’t materialize, “it will be a very bad day for that Country and, very sadly, its people, because they are great and wonderful, and something like this should never have happened to them.”
Trump’s acknowledgment that a US military assault would likely be devastating for ordinary Iranians runs counter to the narrative pushed by supporters of war, who claim conflict and regime change is necessary to aid Iran’s population.
“The stakes are clear,” the National Iranian American Council, an advocacy organization that has vocally opposed a US attack on Iran, wrote late Monday. “President
