On 28 February 2028 Donald Trump, who declares himself to be the Chair of a “Board of Peace”, joined with his friend Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel who is accused of committing genocide in Gaza, to begin an unprovoked and illegal war against Iran while diplomatic efforts were still in progress aimed at preventing such a war. It is perhaps not surprising. Trump has recently sent a large military force to the Middle East so one might have suspect he had been planning to attack the country all that time.

During his election campaign, as Chatham House reported, Trump campaigned against regime change wars and was sharply critical of the 2003 invasion of Iraq. As recently as his Gulf visit in May 2025 he promised that those days were over. As usual, Trump’s words had to be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Within a few hours Aljazeera reported that an Israeli strike has hit an elementary girls’ school in Minab, a city in the Hormozgan province of southern Iran, killing dozens of people, according to state media, as the immediate civilian cost from Israel and the United States’s huge bombardment of Iran comes into sharper focus. Iran’s semiofficial Tasnim News Agency cited the Judiciary of Minab as saying that the death toll had risen to 85 after Saturday’s strike on the school.

GBH reported Massachusetts’ U.S. Senators and congresspeople emphatically condemned President Trump’s decision to use military force. “Trump’s military attack on Iran is illegal and unconstitutional,” Senator Ed Markey said in a statement. “It was not approved by Congress and holds dangers for all Americans. Trump’s illegal actions raise the threat of escalation into a wider regional war with grave risks for U.S. troops and civilians in the region.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, who sits on the Senate Armed Services committee, called for the Senate to come back into session immediately to vote on a War Powers Resolution that would permit or bar the continuing use of force against Iran. She, too, said Trump is making an end run around the Constitution.

Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar issued the following statement: “President Trump is unilaterally dragging this nation into an illegal and unjustified war with Iran without congressional authorization, without a clear objective, and without any imminent threat to the United States. This is a reckless abuse of power that puts both innocent civilians and American lives on the line for a conflict the American people do not want.

“As someone who has survived the horrors of war, I know that bombs do not build peace or create stability. Military strikes will not make us safer; they will inflame tensions and push the region further into chaos. When we abandon diplomacy, we choose destruction.

“We know who will bear the cost of this decision: innocent civilians caught in the crossfire and our young service members sent into harm’s way. This is the devastating human toll of another regime-change war. Already, children and families are paying with their lives. There is no moral or strategic justification for this bloodshed.

“The American people are exhausted by endless wars built on false promises and paid for with American and foreign lives. Congress must reassert its constitutional authority. We must vote immediately on the War Powers resolution authored by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie. This unlawful operation must end immediately.”

UN Secretary-General António Guterres and the heads of UN agencies have condemned Saturday’s joint Israeli and US attacks on Iran and the Iranian retaliatory strikes on Israel and the Gulf Regions.

Mr. Guterres declared that the military escalation in the region undermines international peace and security, and recalled that all Member States must “respect their obligations under international law, including the Charter of the United Nations,” which prohibits “the threat of the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.” He called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and de-escalation and warned that a failure to do so risks a wider regional conflict with grave consequences for civilians and regional stability.

Baha Breaking News reported that United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk called all parties involved in the conflict between Iran, Israel, and the United States to return to negotiations. Turk said missiles and bombs were “not the way to resolve differences” but will only “result in death, destruction and human misery,” going on to call “for restraint and implore all parties to see reason, to de-escalate, and for a return to the negotiating table where they had been actively seeking a solution only hours earlier.”

Reuters reported President Emmanuel Macron of France called for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council. He said that the war will have serious consequences for international peace and security. He wrote on social media: “The current escalation is dangerous for everyone. It must stop. The Iranian regime must understand that it now has no other option but to engage in good-faith negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as its actions to destabilize the region. This is absolutely essential for the security of everyone in the Middle East. The Iranian people must also be able to build their future freely. The massacres perpetrated by the Islamic regime discredit it and necessitate that the people be given a voice. The sooner the better.”

A joint statement by the leaders of Britain, France, and Germany said: “France, Germany and the United Kingdom have consistently urged the Iranian regime to end Iran’s nuclear program, curb its ballistic missile program, refrain from its destabilising activity in the region and our homelands, and to cease the appalling violence and repression against its own people.

“We did not participate in these strikes, but are in close contact with our international partners, including the United States, Israel, and partners in the region. We reiterate our commitment to regional stability and to the protection of civilian life.

“We condemn Iranian attacks on countries in the region in the strongest terms. Iran must refrain from indiscriminate military strikes. We call for a resumption of negotiations and urge the Iranian leadership to seek a negotiated solution. Ultimately, the Iranian people must be allowed to determine their future.”