As President Donald Trump plunged the US into a war with Iran without Congressional approval, Nevadans—including lawmakers—express mixed feelings.
In the early morning hours of Saturday, Israel and the US militaries carried out a joint missile attack on Iran, causing over 1000 casualties, including 175 students killed when a girls’ elementary school was leveled, Reuters reports. The outlet also reported the deaths of six US service members and 10 Israeli troops.
The joint strike on Iran is part of a pattern of conflicts launched by the Trump administration without Congressional approval—including Venezuela.
Reacting to the unsanctioned attack on Iran, US Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) released a statement for US troops involved in the conflict, while urging the White House to brief Congress on its long-term military plans, “including how it intends to prevent instability across the region.”
“I am grateful for our brave men and women who are conducting Operation Epic Fury and am praying for those servicemembers who are under attack across the region,” wrote Rosen, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, which oversees the US Department of Defense.
Republican Gov. Joe Lombardo shared a message with the Nevada Current, stating “Iran has long been a threat to the United States, Isreal and any hope for peace in the Middle East.”
“As all options for diplomacy have been rejected by Iran, I pray for the safety of our U.S. Service members, our allied troops, and for a swift resolution following Operation Epic Fury,” he said.
Lombardo also noted that residents may see an increase in police presence at certain locations as local forces “continue to synchronize with partners as the situation evolves.”
Meanwhile, Nevada Democrats, including House Reps. Dina Titus, Steven Horsford, and Susie Lee, as well as US Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Rosen, rang the alarm about the Trump administration’s decision to engage in conflict. They call the president’s case for an attack in Iran unconvincing, citing that Americans do not want another war, and warning of the risks associated with Iranian war powers, Nevada Current reports.
For Titus, the latest conflict appeared to be another push for regime change in a foreign country.
“This is an attempt to launch a long-sought-after, ill-conceived regime change war that will destabilize Iran as well as the entire Middle East, with millions of people being displaced and forced to flee,” Titus said.
Despite widespread protests against war, Iranians in Las Vegas have mixed feelings about the situation, shaped by their deep opposition to Iran’s government, which they describe as a dictatorship, causing widespread human rights abuses.
The Feb. 28 joint attack on Iran resulted in the death of the Islamic Republic’s second supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and now Trump wants the US to have a say in who succeeds him, according to Reuters.
In an interview with The Nevadan-El Nevadense, UNLV Film Professor Rodabeh Boroumand, whose family lives in Tehran, the capital of Iran, which was hit by airstrikes, expressed support for removing the head of the Islamic Republic but called for safeguards for civilians.
“That region is always dealing with turmoil, because it’s not just one religion and one side—It’s a hot mess,” Boroumand said. “But I cannot pretend to worry about others when I have priorities for my own family, and my own people.”
Boroumand said communication with her family in Iran has been a challenge. She fears her elderly parents won’t evacuate the region. When it comes to her hope for a long-term solution, she believes the only resolution is for Iran “to have a democratic way for the people to choose what’s happening, and that hasn’t been the case for decades.”
But while the US military focuses on dismantling a regime ruled by religion, it faces its own battle brewing at home. Complaints from US servicemembers reveal actions taken against Iran as being part of the biblical prophecy of Armageddon, which inundated the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF). For two decades, MRFF has “combatted Christian Nationalism in the US military,” Michael Weinstein, a US Army veteran and executive director of the watchdog organization, said in an interview.
He confirmed that complaints came in by telephone from Nevada.
“I’m not going to tell you how many or which installations,” he said.
