Opinion: US attack on Iran echoes Russia's invasion of Ukraine

"What the United States is doing is an act of aggression. What we are doing is the act of self-defense. There are huge differences between these two. All you have to do is substitute Russia for the United States and it is all too clear who and what we have become. An aggressor nation that kills people on Caribbean fishing boats without evidence or due process."

"Trump started this war with no constitutional authority. The power to declare war or authorize the use of force rests with Congress, and unless America has been attacked, that must happen in advance. Nor has Trump mustered any consistency or convincing evidence about Iran's nuclear capacity—one purported rationale for this war of choice."

"And he has embarked on it with little apparent concern about lives and consequences that so far include scores of children and other civilians killed in Iran; U.S. military casualties, among them six dead; and Iranian strikes on at least 10 nations: Israel, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Cyprus and Oman."

The Iranian foreign minister's characterization of U.S. actions as aggression mirrors rhetoric used by Ukraine's president regarding Russian invasion. The U.S. has conducted military operations against Iran without congressional authorization, targeting its Supreme Leader and causing civilian deaths. While differences exist between this conflict and Russia's invasion of Ukraine—including the nature of the targeted regime—the U.S. actions lack constitutional authority and clear justification regarding Iran's nuclear capacity. The consequences include casualties among civilians and children in Iran, U.S. military deaths, and Iranian retaliatory strikes affecting at least ten nations across the Middle East and beyond.

Read at www.mercurynews.com