by Joseph Gerson
Remarks Presented by Joseph Gerson of the Campaign for Peace, Democracy, and Common Security, at the “Make Peace with Iran” Event at Senators Markey’s and Warren’s Boston Offices; July 7, 2026
Donald Trump’s decision to join Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu in waging a brutal, futile, and disastrous war on Iran was among the most ignorant and self-defeating wars and blunders in U.S. history. Among other things, it will accelerate U.S. decline internationally and domestically.
The United States under Donald Trump has become a rogue and self-defeating warrior state. The catastrophic and failed Trump-Israeli regime change aggression against Iran was part and parcel of the Trump/MAGA assaults on U.S. and international law, including the U.S. constitution and UN Charter which has served as the cornerstone of the international order for four generations. And let’s not forget their total disregard of popular will of the U.S. people who did not want yet another war.
Trump’s defeat will reverberate globally. The MOU/IOU – allows for enrichment for medical and power generation, Iran’s right under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, as Teheran has long insisted. But elites in many nations – not least in Iran – will be taking a North Korean lesson from this and the Ukrainian wars: If you have nuclear weapons, nuclear weapons states will not attack you.
Diplomatically, between this globally disastrous war, Trump’s total disregard of allies in launching and fighting the war, US inability to facilitate either a ceasefire or peace negotiations in Lebanon or Ukraine, Trump and his acolytes have alienated much of the world. These incompetent blunders will tragically undermine security, prosperity, and respect for U.S. Americans for many decades to come.
The war against Iran, the genocide in Gaza, and Israel’s invasion of Lebanon were fundamentally wrong, evil, and in time will prove to be profoundly self-defeating. Rather than criticize the imperfect MOU, which is a consequence of losing a war that should never have been fought, the U.S. should cease its warmaking campaigns to monopolize control over the worlds fossil fuels and opt for Common Security diplomacy like that which ended the Cold War.
Our priorities should be:
- Defending the integrity of our constitution, our election system, and of the midterm elections.
- Ending military and diplomatic support for Israel in Gaza, Lebanon, or in future conflicts with Iran, as well as rejecting amendment 219 to the National Defense Authorization Act which will further integrate the US and Israeli military-industrial complexes
- Ditching the Board of Peace which is designed to colonize Gaza and undermine the United Nations while being unaccountable to Congress. U.S. resources should be used to pursue common security diplomacy with Iran, the Arab nations including Palestine, and Israel.
- Opposing new arms races and preventing nuclear weapons proliferation by opposing the massive Trump military spending increases, the $1.7 trillion spending to upgrade the US nuclear arsenal, and funding for the dangerously destabilizing and unworkable Golden Dome missile defense systems which will also bankrupt our communities and nation.
- Rejecting Trump commitments and steps to renew nuclear weapons testing. Resumption will spur very dangerous nuclear arms races and nuclear weapons proliferation.
- Opposing racism and fascism and defending human and immigrant rights
Let me close by urging Senators Markey and Warren to become still more courageous. The stakes are enormously high. Ending wars and creating a just peace and real security also requires defending democracy. This and future generations cannot risk losing these political battles.
Joseph Gerson is a member of the MAPA board, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, Co-President of the International Peace Bureau, and was a member of Nihon Hidankyo’s 2024 Nobel Peace Prize delegation.