California Senator Adam Schiff on Sunday, March 1, sharply criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to authorize strikes on Iran, warning that the move could draw the United States into another war in the Middle East.
“There was no justification for launching a military campaign of this scale aimed at regime change,” Schiff said in an interview with George Stephanopoulos on ABC News’s This Week. “The greatest danger is that we have set in motion processes in the region that we are no longer able to control.”
On Saturday, February 28, joint U.S.–Israeli strikes killed Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, along with several of the country’s key political and military figures. Schiff acknowledged that Khamenei was a “brutal dictator” at the head of a “bloody regime,” but stressed that Iran “posed no imminent threat of attack” to the United States.
In June last year, Trump said that U.S. strikes had “destroyed” three Iranian nuclear facilities, although a preliminary intelligence assessment cast doubt on that claim.
On Saturday, the president said the new strikes give the Iranian people a chance to take control of their country. The Islamic Republic has ruled Iran since 1979. “When we are finished, take your country back. It will be yours,” Trump said, addressing Iranians. “This is likely your only chance for many generations.”
Schiff, for his part, warned that Khamenei could be replaced by “an equally vicious regime.” According to Iran’s state broadcaster Press TV, the country is now being run on an interim basis by a council composed of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Guardian Council member Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, and judiciary chief Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei.
“If the Iranian people truly rise up, as the president is urging them to do, perhaps they will succeed,” Schiff said. “Or perhaps they will simply be slaughtered if they believe the president’s implied promise that we would come to their aid.”
As of March 1, three U.S. service members had been killed and five others wounded in the operation, according to U.S. Central Command. Iran responded by striking American bases in the region, as well as targets on Israeli territory.
On Capitol Hill, most Republicans backed the president’s actions. Democrats, by contrast, largely condemned Trump for launching a war without congressional authorization—particularly given that he began his political career and ran his 2024 campaign on pledges to end overseas conflicts and focus on domestic problems.
“The president broke his promise to the American people not to wage more wars for regime change, and broke his promise to focus on lowering the cost of living for American families,” Schiff said. He also pointed to the Senate vote on the war powers resolution he introduced alongside Senators Chuck Schumer, Tim Kaine, and Rand Paul, aimed at preventing a war with Iran without congressional approval.
“There is nothing in these actions that would improve the lives of Americans.”