Richfield, MN – On June 14, over 50 protesters gathered outside a U.S. Army recruitment center to demand an end to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon, highlighting the war crimes committed by U.S. military personnel while admonishing recruiters for preying on vulnerable people’s basic needs. The event was organized by the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) with a wide range of grassroots organizations participating in the event.

The day also marked the Flag Day holiday. Instead of flying the U.S. flag, protesters displayed the flags of Iran, Palestine, Lebanon, Cuba and other countries targeted by Trump, calling on Americans to respect the sovereignty of other nations. Hundreds of passing cars honked in support.

Maamoun Slayhi, a member of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), spoke at the rally. “They tell us this is about security. But whose security? Not the security of the children in Gaza. Not the security of the families in South Lebanon. Not the security of the people of Iran,” said Slayhi. “And certainly not the security of working families here in the United States who are told there is no money for healthcare, no money for schools, no money for housing, and no money for infrastructure, but somehow there is always money for bombs, warships, and unconditional support for Israel.”

Slayhi continued, “Brown University’s Costs of War project found that the U.S. spent over $21 billion on military aid to Israel after October 7 [2023], not counting billions more in related U.S. military operations in the region. And now over $15 billion for the Iran War. That is our money. That is money that could be spent on healthcare. That is money that could be spent on schools.”

The Pentagon has not been forthcoming about the true cost of the war on Iran. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, at a House Armed Services Committee on April 29, estimated the cost of the war to be about $25 billion. However, a more comprehensive analysis by Popular Information estimated the total cost of the war through the first 60 days at $71.8 billion, almost three times the stated cost.

Doubts about the true cost have been further legitimized by reports that the Pentagon has sought hundreds of billions to be added to the War Department’s budget.

Sima Shakhsari, a founding member of the grassroots group Let Iran Live, connected military recruitment to the human toll the U.S. military has inflicted on their home country, saying, “These recruiters make it sound like it is a heroic act to go and fight in the U.S.-Israeli wars. I ask you: Is it heroic to kill a three-day-old baby in Lebanon or a 20-day-old baby in Iran? How heroic is it to kill Avina, a two-year-old girl who struggled to take her last breaths with her pacifier still in her mouth, as doctors tried to save her?”

In the last week, the U.S. and Iran reportedly reached a memorandum of understanding — reportedly including major U.S. concessions — aimed at ending the war. Continued Israeli violations in Lebanon, as well as mixed signals from the Trump administration about the terms of the agreement, have threatened to keep the war going.

“Many of us are skeptical about the end of the military attacks, because we have seen repeatedly how Israel, under the protection of the U.S. government and under the cloak of ceasefire agreements, continues to bomb and kill Palestinians and the people of Lebanon,” cautioned Shakhsari.

Cedar Larson, a member of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), spoke about the system that is ultimately responsible for these wars, saying, “We, as the people, the majority in this country, the workers of the world, we are so united. We see the world around us – we see that our enemy is the ruling class! It is the billionaires – the trillionaires! Elon Musk is an official trillionaire. The Pentagon budget is one trillion dollars. And still millions go hungry. We can see that the only option is an end to capitalism, an end to U.S. imperialism, and the time has never been more ripe!”

“The U.S. government itself creates the poverty conditions that many look to escape by joining the military,” explained Yossi Aharoni of the AWC, one of the rally’s emcees. “We can all see the corruption of the Iran war: completely illegal, immoral, built on lies upon lies. It is a disgusting immoral war and it is a disgusting immoral act to recruit young people at the prime of their lives to fight and die for this administration or any U.S. war.”

Members of Veterans for Peace and U.S. Palestinian Community Network also spoke at the rally.

Protesters concluded the event with a group photo in front of the recruitment center, leaving behind a few signs bearing the words: “Genocide is not a job!”

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