On June 21, 2025, US President Donald Trump launched a series of nuclear strikes against Iranian facilities, opening the gates to an unprecedented regional and global catastrophe. Ignoring warnings from within his own administration, Congress, and key European allies, Trump added to his record a reckless decision that threatens to plunge the Middle East into a spiralling and uncontrollable war. These strikes—targeting critical sites including the fortified Fordow facility—defied repeated alerts that any nuclear escalation would trigger open warfare, with consequences reaching far beyond Iran, threatening American allies, bases, and forces across the region.
Yet this escalation is not without context. Since the outbreak of the Gaza war in October 2023, Washington has pursued a policy of unwavering support for Israel, delivering over $17.9bn in emergency military aid, on top of the $3.8bn annually guaranteed under existing agreements. This has persisted despite growing public outrage at home, particularly as 22% of senior citizens in the US live below the poverty line and federal budgets for health, education, and social services face deep cuts. Nonetheless, the administration continues to fund Tel Aviv’s aggressive military operations without restraint—including its recent entanglement with Iran.
Amid this charged atmosphere, Senator Bernie Sanders—progressive icon and former presidential candidate—rose in Congress on June 19, just two days before the strikes, to deliver a blistering warning. Sanders asserted that the US was paying a dangerous price for following the dictates of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Zionist lobby. According to Sanders, it was Netanyahu who engineered the war with Iran through preemptive attacks, sabotaged nuclear diplomacy, and dragged the US to the edge of a regional inferno—one that Americans will pay for with their money, and their sons’ lives.
Sanders condemned Trump’s nuclear strikes as an unconstitutional act and a reckless escalation that threatens global catastrophe. He reminded his colleagues that only Congress holds the constitutional authority to declare war, and denounced the president’s blatant violation of that principle. Moreover, Sanders identified the Zionist lobby—embodied by AIPAC—as a direct threat to American democracy, accusing it of using vast financial influence to sway congressional loyalty and impose a foreign policy agenda that contradicts the interests of the American people.
He further warned that any member of Congress who refuses to align blindly with Netanyahu’s policies faces smear campaigns financed by AIPAC—an affront, he argued, to the democratic values on which the United States was founded. The inevitable result of such financial and political complicity, Sanders said, is America’s entanglement in wars that serve no national interest. The recent nuclear strikes on Iran, in his view, are the ultimate expression of this policy failure.
He then laid out a stark ledger of costs: nearly $18bn in new US funds for Israel’s war in Gaza, while American forces in Iraq, Syria, and the Gulf have become targets for Iranian-backed militias. Since the June 14 assassination of Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator, Ali Shamkhani—reportedly by Israeli intelligence—the Houthis in Yemen have escalated threats to US ships and bases in the Red Sea, and Iran has intensified its missile attacks on Israel, placing American troops in the crossfire.
At home, Sanders noted, public opinion is fracturing. A Harvard University poll from January 2024 found that 49% of young Americans viewed Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocidal, while 67% of the broader population demanded an immediate ceasefire. Universities and cities across the country have seen mass protests; government officials have resigned; and the Democratic Party faces internal turmoil. In Michigan alone, over 100,000 voters submitted “uncommitted” ballots in the Democratic primary, a pointed rejection of President Biden’s unwavering support for Netanyahu.
Internationally, Sanders stressed, America’s credibility as a champion of human rights has collapsed. Its repeated use of the veto at the U.N. Security Council to block ceasefire resolutions, and now its nuclear strikes on Iran, have drawn global condemnation. Amnesty International declared the strikes a moral nadir, stripping Washington of any remaining legitimacy. Even cautious European allies such as France and Germany issued a joint warning on June 20 against the “catastrophic consequences” of nuclear escalation, while Russia and China have moved swiftly to exploit the resulting vacuum, expanding their regional influence.
This crisis, Sanders insisted, is no longer just political or military—it is the result of full-scale submission to a powerful nexus of interests led by the Zionist lobby, which now shapes American foreign policy in ways that jeopardise the nation’s own welfare. He reminded Americans that since the 1950s, the US has transferred nearly $90bn in direct aid to Israel, sacrificing its global standing, deepening domestic divisions, and multiplying military risks across several fronts.
He concluded with a warning: if Washington continues down this path, it will not only destroy Palestine and destabilise Iran, but will also permanently damage America’s moral standing, leadership, and internal cohesion—plunging the region into endless warfare with dire consequences for all. “We cannot allowbnaires in the lobby to purchase the US Congress,” Sanders declared. “We are a democracy—not a publicly traded corporation.”
This article is neither a defence of Gaza nor a dismissal of Iran’s actions. It is a grave warning that the world’s preeminent superpower is losing control of its destiny. As one of its most principled voices rises in dissent, the message is clear: dismantle the Zionist lobby’s stranglehold and end reckless military adventurism—before America collapses from within.
Marwa El-Shinawy – Academic and Writer
