Hundreds Flood Times Square to Protest U.S.-Israeli Strikes on Iran

(MENAFN) Hundreds of demonstrators flooded Times Square Saturday before marching through the streets of New York City, rallying in forceful opposition to the coordinated U.S.-Israeli airstrikes against Iran and demanding that federal resources be redirected toward education, housing, and domestic needs.

Protesters filled the iconic intersection brandishing banners that read "Stop the War on Iran," "No Regime Change Wars," and "Trump Must Go Now," while chanting "From the belly of the beast, hands off the Middle East" and "Up up with liberation, down down with occupation" as they moved through the city.

Layan Fuleihan, education director at The People's Forum — a socialist organization and movement incubator based in New York City — drew sharp attention to America's own nuclear arsenal in a speech to the crowd.

"We cannot forget that it is the United States that has over 5,000 nuclear warheads ready to be launched. It is the United States that is pointing those nuclear warheads at the towns and cities of everyday people like you and me all across the world," Fuleihan said.

She pushed back firmly against the premise that Iran represents a genuine danger to American life.

"Iran poses no threat to the United States. We will not fall for the lies that were used to deceive us 20 years ago," Fuleihan said in a speech at the rally.

She argued that no ordinary American family considers Iran a daily threat. "This is not the reality of this country," she added.

A flyer circulated at the rally and attributed to David North, chair of the Socialist Equality Party in the United States, delivered a pointed legal and constitutional indictment of the operation.

"The attack on Iran by Donald Trump and his war-crazed cabal is a massive political crime, illegal under international law and in direct violation of the U.S. Constitution," the flyer stated.

North further argued that President Trump had placed the country and the world on a ruinous trajectory, contending the conflict would neither resolve America's deepening domestic crisis nor halt the long-term erosion of U.S. global economic standing.

Marilyn Vogt-Downey, a retired New York City teacher of economics and foreign policy, framed the strikes in broader historical terms, asserting that the United States government stands as the most aggressive imperialist power in history and that the current military action represents yet another imperialist war.

Rally organizers confirmed that additional protests against the war on Iran are already scheduled across New York City in the days ahead, signaling that street opposition to the military campaign shows no signs of fading.

MENAFN01032026000045017169ID1110804608