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As conflict intensifies and widens after the United States-Israeli aggression on Iran –  codenamed ‘Roaring Lion’ by Tel Aviv and ‘Epic Fury’ by Washington – Americans are taking to the streets in large numbers. From New York to Los Angeles, Chicago to Seattle, throngs of protesters chant against what they see as an unprovoked escalation, a brazen act of imperial aggression cloaked in the rhetoric of national security.

These marches over the past weekend of February 28-March 1, 2026, are not mere outbursts of dissent; they are the latest chapter in a storied tradition of anti-war resistance that has repeatedly exposed the hollowness of America’s forever wars. As Trumpism and its MAGA facade begin to crack under the weight of domestic disillusionment, the empire’s war policy stands revealed for what it is: an offensive against reason, international law and the very principles of sovereignty it claims to uphold.

The strikes, launched on February 28, targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities in Isfahan, missile sites in Karaj and command centres in Tehran and Qom. President Donald Trump, in a characteristically bombastic address from the Oval Office, framed them as a decisive blow against “radical Islamic terrorism” and an “imminent threat” to American interests. Yet, as reports from the ground reveal civilian casualties and infrastructural devastation, the operation has ignited a regional powder keg.

Iranian retaliation – missile barrages on US bases in Iraq and Syrian proxy forces clashing with Israeli troops in Lebanon – has drawn in Hezbollah, the Houthis and even hints of Syrian involvement, threatening a wider conflagration. Israel’s Prime Minister, emboldened by unwavering US support, has vowed to “finish the job”, echoing the bipartisan consensus that has long prioritised primacy over peace.

Defiance at heart of empire

But in the heart of the empire, the response is one of defiance. Protesters, a diverse coalition of veterans, students, labour unions and progressive activists, carry signs reading “No More Forever Wars” and “Trump’s Empire: Built on Lies”. In Washington, D.C., a human chain encircled the White House, while in San Francisco marchers blocked the Golden Gate Bridge for hours. These actions echo the mass mobilisations against the Vietnam War in the 1960s and 1970s, when millions flooded the streets, forcing a reckoning with the draft and the Mai Lai massacre.

Similarly, the 2003 protests against the Iraq invasion – estimated at 10-15 million globally, with over a million in the US alone – exposed the fabricated Weapons of Mass Destruction pretext and the neoliberal hubris of the Bush administration. Today, as in those eras, the anti-war movement draws strength from its intersectionality: Black Lives Matter organisers link Gaza and Iran’s plight to domestic police militarisation, while climate activists denounce the environmental toll of endless conflict, from oil spills to carbon........

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