Kamala Harris has criticised Donald Trump for joining Israel in military action against Iran.
US forces carried out strikes in several Iranian cities on February 28. Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was reported to have been killed during the attacks.
The military action followed talks over Iran’s nuclear program that ultimately did not produce an agreement.
Trump had repeatedly signalled that military force was on the table if a deal could not be reached.
In the aftermath of the strikes, Iran responded with missile and drone attacks targeting a number of Middle Eastern countries, including Israel, the UAE, Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait—locations that also host US military assets.
Amid the escalating conflict, former Vice President Kamala Harris released a statement condemning the US operation, arguing it risks turning into a “regime-change” war.
In a post shared on X on Saturday, Harris wrote: “Let me be clear: I am opposed to a regime-change war in Iran, and our troops are being put in harm’s way for the sake of Trump’s war of choice.
“This is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world. What we are witnessing is not strength. It is recklessness dressed up as resolve.”
She said she recognises what she described as the threat posed by Iran, while also emphasising that the country “must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.”
But Harris argued that the current strategy would not effectively remove that danger, adding that “this is not the way to dismantle that threat.”
She also took aim at Trump’s past claims about preferring to end conflicts, describing those claims as dishonest.
Harris continued: “And let us all be clear-eyed about what comes next. The President has already said this conflict may produce American casualties…Our troops deserve a Commander-in-Chief who approaches decisions on matters of war and peace with the same steadiness and discipline our troops show every day. Under the Constitution of the United States, the President must receive authorization from Congress to enter a war.”
She added: “There can be no equivocation in our opposition to Donald Trump’s war of choice, and Congress must use all available power to prevent him from further committing us to this conflict. Our troops, our allies, and the American people deserve nothing less.”
Trump, meanwhile, defended the strikes in his own statement, saying: “Our objective is to defend the American people by eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime, a vicious group of very hard, terrible people.
“Its menacing activities directly endanger the United States, our troops, our bases overseas, and our allies throughout the world.”