03/12/2026
"Send your son, Donald Trump. If you want war, send your own people to the front line. We in Spain want our children, our daughters, and our loved ones at home, safe. We don't want war. Those who want war should send their own children." That was Irene Montero, a Spanish Member of the European Parliament, speaking directly to Donald Trump from the floor of the European Parliament last week.
Thousands of miles away, in the U.S. House of Representatives, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) shared a very similar message: "I rise on behalf of the grieving families of the service members killed. I rise on behalf of little girls in Iran killed by bombs raining down on their schools." Pressley spoke the emotions many parents feel while watching these events: "My heart breaks for the United States service members killed. My heart breaks for the innocent Iranian schoolgirls killed. Every child is a parent's entire universe."
Two women. Two continents. The same message. And the man they were speaking to was reportedly golfing at his club in Miami, while describing a conflict that has already taken nearly 2,000 lives as a "little excursion."
Yesterday, U.S. Senators came out of a classified briefing about the war looking deeply concerned. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) shared a video online and spoke very clearly: "It is so much worse than you thought. You are right to be worried. The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies, and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation."
She then explained the cost in a way many Americans understand: "Here's the only part of Trump's plan that is clear to me: He won't spare a cent for the 15 million Americans who will lose their health care, but he'll spend a billion dollars a day bombing Iran."
The Republican budget bill Trump approved last year cuts about $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next ten years â the biggest health care reduction in U.S. history. Around 15 million people are expected to lose coverage. There seems to be no funding to protect that care. But spending roughly a billion dollars each day on military strikes in a country with no clear strategy, no final goal, and no exit plan? That funding appeared immediately.
Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) spoke even more directly: "This war is costing a billion dollars a day. In one month we will spend more over there than we needed to save healthcare for more than 2 million Americans. They literally are taking away your food and your healthcare for this regime change war of choice."
One Tomahawk cruise missile costs around $2.2 million. That same amount could provide Medicaid coverage for about 775 children for a year. In just the first two days of this war, the Pentagon used over $5 billion worth of weapons. Reports said the first week alone cost roughly $6 billion. Now the administration is preparing to ask Congress for another $50 billion to replace used weapons â on top of the Pentagonâs already record-setting $1 trillion yearly budget.
This administration campaigned on ending endless wars, promising to focus on American priorities and support working families. Instead, billions of taxpayer dollars are being spent on another Middle East war â money that could help schools, restore health care programs, repair aging infrastructure, or lower taxes for everyday Americans. Yet this military action continues without a clear plan, goal, or exit strategy.
Trump has also given mixed statements about the warâs status. Within just 24 hours this week, he told CBS News, "I think the war is very complete, pretty much," told House Republicans "we've already won in many ways, but we haven't won enough," and then said at a press conference that "we'll not relent until the enemy is totally and decisively defeated." At the same time, the Defense Department posted online: "We have only just begun to fight."
When a reporter asked how the war could be almost finished while his own Defense Secretary says it is just starting, Trump replied: "You could say both." He also described the conflict as "just an excursion into something that had to be done."
A "short-term excursion." A "little pause" for the economy. But after twelve days, the numbers show something much more serious: more than 1,200 people killed in Iran â including over 168 children at one girls' school â and about 570 killed in Lebanon. Seven American service members have died, and 140 U.S. troops have been injured, eight of them badly.
Meanwhile, global oil prices have climbed above $100 per barrel after Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, a route where about 20% of the worldâs oil passes. Americans are already noticing higher gas prices, and experts warn food and other daily goods could become more expensive as transportation costs rise.
The administration has also been unclear about whether U.S. ground troops could enter Iran. Trump told the New York Post he doesnât have the "yips with respect to boots on the ground," treating the decision like a show of confidence rather than a life-or-death matter. NBC News reported he has privately shown "serious interest" in sending ground forces.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about ground troops and even the possibility of a draft. Her response: "all options are on the table." After the classified briefing yesterday, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) told reporters he is "more fearful than ever" that the U.S. may be "on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran."
The main reason given for this war â preventing a nuclear-armed Iran â has also raised many questions. Last June, Trump ordered strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities and said the program had been "obliterated." His press secretary repeated that claim just before the current war started. But then Trump envoy Steve Witkoff told reporters Iran was "a week away" from building a bomb.
As Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) asked: "Is Donald Trump confused about why he's starting this war? Maybe he needs to have his memory checked. Less than a year ago he told us Iran's nuclear program had been 'obliterated.' Now he says we need more strikes. Was he lying then? Or is he lying now?"
The Defense Intelligence Agency previously estimated that Iran might develop a long-range missile capable of reaching the United States by 2035 â about a decade away â and only if it chose to pursue that path. Three U.S. officials with intelligence knowledge told the New York Times that the immediacy of the threat had been overstated.
The executive director of the Arms Control Association stated clearly that there "was and is no imminent Iranian nuclear threat" that would justify starting this war. Even more striking â diplomatic talks were still ongoing. Just 36 hours before the bombing began, Iranâs negotiators shared a new proposal through Omani mediators. Omanâs foreign minister confirmed that "significant progress" had been made in the talks.
Trump withdrew from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018 â an agreement many experts said was working â then bombed Iranian facilities last year, restarted negotiations, and later ordered strikes again during those same negotiations while citing a threat that intelligence agencies say may be a decade away.
If this pattern sounds familiar, itâs because it resembles the old weapons-of-mass-destruction argument used before the Iraq War. But this time there is a major difference. As one security analyst told Al Jazeera: the nuclear threat appears to be exaggerated again, but unlike 2003, intelligence reports now openly contradict the administrationâs claims rather than support them.
Senator Jacky Rosen (D-NV) left the classified briefing and told reporters: "What I heard is not just concerning. It is disturbing. I'm not sure what the endgame is or what their plans are. He's not shown us any plans for what he wants to do for the day after."
Representative Katherine Clark (D-MA), the second-highest ranking Democrat in the House, voiced concerns shared by many families: "Families do not want another war. They want a reasonable cost of living. They want health care they can afford. They want an end to ICE's terror in their neighborhoods. And they do not want their sons and daughters placed in harm's way by a reckless President."
However, when Democrats tried to challenge the administration through Congress, Republicans stopped the effort. Last week the Senate voted 47-53 against a War Powers Resolution that would have required Congress to approve continued military action â only one Republican, Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), supported moving it forward. The House rejected a similar resolution the following day by a vote of 212-219.
Now Senate Democrats are calling for public hearings, asking the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense to testify under oath so Americans can understand what their government is doing in their name, with their money, and potentially with their childrenâs lives. Warren has clearly said: "No more money" for this war until those questions are answered. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) warned: "We shouldn't be acting like this is business as usual. This is war and peace."
Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) understands the human cost of war. She lost both of her legs when her Black Hawk helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled gr***de in Iraq â during the last Middle East conflict that was promised to be quick and simple. She explained: "I ran for Congress so that when the drums of war started beating once again, I'd be in a position to make sure that our elected officials fully considered the true cost of the war -- not just in dollars and cents but in human lives."
From Madrid to Massachusetts, from the European Parliament to the U.S. Senate, voices are rising with the same concern: this war appears to lack a clear plan, clear justification, or a defined end. It has already cost billions of dollars, thousands of lives, and put American service members in danger â while programs supporting health care, child care, and food assistance at home face cuts and rising costs.
If Trump wants another long conflict in the Middle East, critics say he should send his own children and grandchildren â not the children of American families.
This must not become another endless war fought without clear accountability, without approval from Congress, and without the support of the American people. Congress has the authority to demand explanations â and to refuse funding for a war that has no clear plan or justification.
--> Call your Senators at (202) 224-3121 and demand they hold public hearings on the war in Iran, with the Secretary of State and the Secretary of Defense testifying under oath. Demand they pass the War Powers Resolution to reassert Congress's constitutional authority over matters of war and peace. And demand they reject the administration's $50 billion supplemental funding request until the American people get answers about why this war was started, what it's meant to achieve, and how and when it ends.
