Stephen Zunes

Visions of Life / Agents of Death: On Love Thy Neighbor and Love Thy Nature Donald Trump's world is a dead and lonely world, a world in which everything is for sale and nothing really means anything and no one else matters. Earlier this year, he pressed Nobel Peace Prize winn...

Powerful words of wisdom and hope from Rebecca Solnit:
www.meditationsinanemergency.com/visions-of-l...

YouTube video by Global Monitoring Center Western Sahara: The Autonomy Proposal vs. International Legal Obligations

I am the first of three panelists speaking at this forum critically examining Morocco's "autonomy" proposal for the nation of Western Sahara--which it invaded, occupied, and illegally annexed in 1975--and is supported by the U.S. and several European governments. www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXWW...

With Trump now calling for Iran's "unconditional surrender," he has made it an existential war for the Iranian regime. They will not surrender. They will be willing to see countless thousands of Iranians die in the U.S./Israeli bombing. They will keep firing missiles and drones anywhere they can.

From the former Foreign Secretary of India on the U.S. Navy’s sinking of an unarmed Iranian ship, killing 87 sailors.

Trump is a bully. Whether with women or with nations, he is willing to cross any moral or legal boundaries in order to dominate and control. He thinks he has right to impose his will, whatever the consequences.

YouTube video by Fair Observer Why Killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei Did Not Collapse the Regime | Fair Observer

Here's a 30-minute interview I did yesterday for Fair Observer--probably my best and most comprehensive since the war began: www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJW2...

Would the Iranian regime be willing to sustain a long, incredibly one-sided, and utterly devastating war despite massive casualties? Certainly. We have seen how they were willing to kill thousands of Iranians themselves. And the U.S. and Israel appear willing to kill many thousands more.

What Are the Trump Administration’s True Objectives in Iran? Many of President Trump’s stated justifications for the US and Israeli war on Iran are demonstrably false.

My latest article, just published this afternoon. Please consider circulating.
truthout.org/articles/wha...

Why is Trump going to war with Iran? - 48 hills Plus: Finally, a supervisor calls out City Planning for ignoring affordable housing, and the next move toward a public bank. That's The Agenda for March 1-8

I'm quoted a fair amount in yesterday's "48 Hills"
48hills.org/2026/03/why-...

J Street Statement Opposing War With Iran - J Street We are appalled by President Trump’s reckless decision to launch a war of choice against Iran explicitly seeking regime change.

No, it’s not “the Zionists” who are supporting the criminal war. Zionists and Zionist organizations are divided. jstreet.org/press-releas...

As critical as I have been of Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, and other Democratic hawks, I've always stressed that Trump would be worse.

Iran doesn’t actually have any nuclear weapons, but CBS News wants you to believe otherwise.

Polls show barely 20% of Americans support war with Iran (and I would guess an even smaller minority of Middle East scholars), but every one of CBS's "experts" do.

At least 85 girls killed in strike on school in southern Iran Eyewitness tells MEE girls aged between seven and 12 seen lying dead across their school

The United States and Israel are murdering schoolchildren.
www.middleeasteye.net/news/least-2...

Ayatollah Khamenei was 87 years old, in declining health, and wasn't expected to last much longer. Unfortunately, Iran is as much a military dictatorship as a theocracy at this point, with the Revolutionary Guard exerting as much power as the ayatollahs. Their repressive apparatus remains intact.

YouTube video by Fair Observer Could a US Strike Unite Iran Instead of Breaking It? Fair Observer

This interview of mine was recorded prior to the start of the war, but it is still relevant:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=pya5...

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer has raised some concerns about procedure, but has thus far failed to condemn Trump's illegal war on Iran.

Just last night, an Omani mediator said a nuclear agreement with Iran was within reach. In response, the United States and Israel started bombing. This war isn't about nonproliferation. It's about inflicting as much damage as possible on a country that isn't willing to accept U.S. hegemony.

Apparently, some Bahrainis were cheering with Iranian missiles slammed into the U.S. Navy base near that island nation's capital. Many of them are still bitter at U.S. support for the country's autocratic regime, particularly since the brutal 2011 crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

“Once again, blatant lies and exaggerated claims are being propagated to justify the attack. Duplicitous American diplomacy became a fig leaf for premeditated aggression. The cautionary advice of allies was spurned. The UN, international law and public opinion were ignored."
Simon Tisdall

We now see why Schumer and Jeffries kept delaying a vote on the bipartisan resolution banning a war with Iran.

This is NOT a preemptive war. A preemptive war is in response to an imminent attack. This is a war of aggression--a flagrant violation of the United Nations Charter.

Despite their rationales for the Iraq invasion being exposed as lies and the war being a disaster, Bush got re-elected and pro-war senators like McCain, Kerry, Clinton, and Biden became their parties' nominees for president. As a result, Trump probably believes he can get away with a war on Iran.

In Trump’s Case for War, a Series of False or Unproven Claims

After dutifully repeating the Bush administration’s lies in order to frighten the American people into supporting an illegal, unnecessary, and predictably disastrous war on Iraq, the New York Times is actually challenging the Trump administration’s lies about Iran. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/u...