Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was speaking in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday during a “Fight Oligarchy” tour speech when he learned — thanks to the crowd — of President Donald Trump’s and the United States’ decision to bomb Iran.
Footage from the event shows an audience member yelling, “We just bombed Iran!,” prompting a swell of bellowing anti-war cries, forcing Sanders to pause his address momentarily.
The 83-year-old senator and former Democratic presidential candidate initially appeared stunned by the news, but gathered himself as a staffer ran onto the stage with a printed copy of Trump’s statement, which he first read silently to himself. With a shake of his head, he then read the opening sentence aloud.
“We have completed our very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran,” Bernie recited, before looking out into the audience, which had begun chanting “no more war.”
“I agree,” he said into the microphone.
Sanders let the shouting continue before gesturing that he had more to say.
He went on to call the news “alarming” and Trump’s actions “grossly unconstitutional.”
Visibly angry and upset, he said, “All of you know that the only entity that can take this country to war is the U.S. Congress. The president does not have the right.”
A wave of rapturous applause followed.
“I was talking a moment ago about the fact that we are living in one of the most difficult moments in the modern history of this country, and Trump just made it that much more difficult. That’s just another burden we’re going to have to carry, and that’s just another message we’re going to have to get out all over this country… the American people do not want more war, more death,” Sanders continued.
Other U.S. lawmakers questioned the legality of the strikes.
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“While President Trump’s decision may prove just, it’s hard to conceive a rationale that’s Constitutional. I look forward to his remarks tonight,” Rep. Warren Davidson, a Republican congressman for Ohio, wrote on X on Saturday.
In an address to the nation on Saturday night, Trump said, “Our objective was the destruction of Iran’s nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world’s number one state-sanctioned sponsor of terror.”
“Tonight I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success,” he continued. “Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.”
Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also addressed the strikes on X, saying, “The President’s disastrous decision to bomb Iran without authorization is a grave violation of the Constitution and Congressional War Powers. He has impulsively risked launching a war that may ensnare us for generations. It is absolutely and clearly grounds for impeachment.”
Meanwhile, Esmaeil Baqaei, spokesperson and head of Iran’s Center for Public Diplomacy, accused the United States of “colluding with a war criminal and genocidal warmonger to wage an unjust war of aggression against our beloved nation in flagrant violation of fundamental principles of international law, the UN Charter, and the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).”
The U.S. says it has issued a “worldwide caution security alert” as Israel and Iran continue to trade renewed rounds of strikes less than two days after the U.S. hit Iranian nuclear sites.
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