Protestors gather in Portland to condemn military strike in Iran

A few dozen protesters gathered outside Pioneer Courthouse Square in Portland on Saturday to speak out against recent military actions in Iran.

The protest came hours after the U.S. and Israel launched several missiles into Iran, which American and Israeli officials have said led to the death of Ayatollah Ali Khameini, that nation’s supreme leader for nearly 40 years. The Iranian military responded by firing missiles at American bases located around the region.

Sunday’s protest was organized by Portland for Palestine. People held up signs that read “U.S. Hands Off Iran” and “Stop The War On Iran Now.”

“We’re really doing this again, this is Iraq 2.0,” protester Abigail Stormer said.

Marianne Barisonek held up a large banner that read “Who Pays?” She said she was upset when she woke up to the news about Iran.

“I just felt sick to my stomach, because here we go again,” Barisonek said. “We’re going to pay in taxes. We’re going to pay in lives. We’re going to pay in the damage to our democracy and our international reputation.”

Another demonstration organized by Iranian-Americans in support of a regime change is scheduled at Pioneer Courthouse Square on Sunday at 2 p.m. The group has protested weekly for the past two months.

Earlier Saturday, Congressional Democrats in Oregon and Washington condemned the military strikes on Iran.

“Donald Trump is unilaterally dragging us into another costly and deadly war in the Middle East that the American people don’t want,” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., said on X.

Wyden added that Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth are “are putting American lives on the line to make themselves feel powerful, while our military families pay the real price.”

U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., a longtime member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, said Trump’s decision to launch an attack on Iran “shreds our Constitution, which assigns decisions of war to Congress.”

U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, Oregon’s lone Republican in Congress, said by phone Saturday that members of Congress will be briefed on the situation in the coming days, although he was not sure exactly which day.

“I’m looking forward to the briefing,” Bentz said. “Until then, I really have no comment, because I don’t know the facts.”

U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici, D-Portland, said in a written statement that Republicans had been “negligent” by not pushing back on the president’s military actions.

“Donald Trump promised to end wars, not start them,” said Bonamici, the longest-tenured member of Oregon’s House delegation. “The consequences of war are so grave that our founding fathers established in the Constitution that the power to declare war is with Congress.”

Multiple Democrats specifically called for Congress to return to vote on a War Powers Resolution in an effort to stop further military action in Iran.

“The American people must also be LOUD in their opposition,” U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter, D-Portland, said. “The public wants peace, not more chaos abroad. Your voice is powerful.”

“The Speaker (Mike Johnson) needs to call the House back now to vote on a war powers resolution to reign the President in,” U.S. Rep. Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, said.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, a longtime member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, called on each senator to make their position on the strike public.

“Every Senator should be on the record — the American people deserve to know which of their leaders supports another potentially bloody and costly war in the Middle East,” Murray wrote. “No war with Iran.”