MORE FEDERAL OFFICIALS representing the Bay Area and California spoke out Sunday about U.S. strikes on Iran the day before, citing President Donald Trump’s disregard of going to Congress first and worries that the country could now be embroiled in another war.
On Saturday, the U.S. bombed three nuclear sites in Iran in an effort to knock out the country’s uranium enrichment program, which is a precursor to being able to build a nuclear weapon.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, fresh off criticizing Trump after federal agents tackled him to the ground and handcuffed him in Los Angeles last week after he attempted to ask a question of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, said Sunday that the strikes on Iran should have been approved by Congress under Article 1 of the Constitution.
“Before any further military action is taken President Trump must come before Congress,” Padilla said in a statement released by his office. “That’s not just a matter of process — it’s a matter of law.”
Padilla said Trump risked igniting a wider war in the region and harming Americans.
“Dismantling Iran’s nuclear weapons program is imperative for America’s national security and essential to Israel’s safety and right to exist,” said Padilla. “However, it is unacceptable that the president disregarded his constitutional responsibility to seek and secure congressional authorization before launching these strikes.”
U.S. Rep. John Garamendi, D-Fairfield, a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee, said Sunday that only Congress has the power to declare war.
“President Trump’s unilateral and unauthorized decision to conduct military strikes against Iran demonstrates how he continues to put his own ego above the safety of our country,” Garamendi said in a statement released by his office. “Without a clear and imminent threat Trump has now dragged our country into a regional war and unnecessarily put thousands of service members at risk.”
Garamendi added that Trump “broke his promise” to bring peace to the Middle East and keep America out of wars.
On Saturday, U.S. Rep Jimmy Panetta, D-Santa Cruz, U.S. Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena, Silicon Valley-based U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco also decried the president bypassing Congress.
“The President failed to provide a clear objective for these actions or a way to determine the success of the missions,” said Panetta in a statement released by his office. “This type of unauthorized military action could easily lead to an escalation of the conflict and put many of the 40,000 U.S. service members in the Middle East at risk from retaliation from Iran and its proxies.”
Thompson said attacks by the U.S. should go through Congress.
“It is Congress’ Constitutional responsibility to debate and approve any use of military force,” he said in a statement released by his office Saturday night. “This is why I called on Speaker Johnson last week to reconvene the U.S. House of Representatives, and I am calling on him once again to call us back into session now. Members must be briefed immediately on the evolving situation in the Middle East so we can fulfill our Constitutional responsibilities.”
Khanna also called for Congress to convene Saturday after the attacks.
“Donald Trump has just launched military strikes into Iran without any congressional authorization,” said Khanna in a Facebook video. “It’s blatantly unconstitutional.”
Khanna called for the immediate return of members of Congress to Washington D.C. to vote on his war powers resolution he coauthored with U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) to “stop the endless war in Iran.”
“We can’t have Americans sent to Iran risking their lives and risking hundreds of billions of dollars of American taxpayer dollars,” Khanna added.
Pelosi also condemned the attacks.
“Tonight, the President ignored the Constitution by unilaterally engaging our military without Congressional authorization,” Pelosi wrote on the social media platform X. “I join my colleagues in demanding answers from the Administration on this operation which endangers American lives and risks further escalation and dangerous destabilization of the region.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom told the state his office was monitoring the situation.
“Following the President’s action in Iran, California’s State Threat Assessment Center is actively monitoring for any potential impacts in California,” Newsom wrote on X. “While there are no specific or credible counter threats we are aware of at this time, we urge everyone to stay vigilant and report suspicious activity.”
‘Many targets left,’ Trump warns
The White House on Sunday released quotes from dozens of elected officials praising the military action against Iran.
The President made the right call, and did what he needed to do,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana. “Leaders in Congress were aware of the urgency of this situation and the Commander-in-Chief evaluated that the imminent danger outweighed the time it would take for Congress to act.”
Johnson added that the president “fully respects the Article I power of Congress, and tonight’s necessary, limited, and targeted strike follows the history and tradition of similar military actions under presidents of both parties.”
President Trump said on social media on Saturday that the U.S. had completed three “successful” attacks on Iranian nuclear sites.
“All planes are now outside of Iran air space” he wrote. “A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow. All planes are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great American Warriors. There is not another military in the World that could have done this. NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE! Thank you for your attention to this matter.”
In an address to the nation on Saturday night, Trump said Iran can expect “far greater” attacks if it refuses to make peace.
“There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days,” said Trump. “Remember, there are many targets left.”
Jewish group slam strikes, demand aid
Before news of U.S. strikes on Iran on Saturday, hundreds of Jewish Bay Area residents held a sit-in at the San Francisco Ferry Building earlier in the day during the weekly farmer’s market there in a protest against Israel’s war in Gaza and its military action in Iran.
After Trump announced strikes on three nuclear sites in Iran, Starchy Grant with the Jewish Voice for Peace’s Bay Area chapter, which organized Saturday’s sit-in, decried the move.
“Joining Israel’s unprovoked attacks on Iran will do nothing to make Americans, Jews, and/or Israelis safer,” said Grant in an email Saturday evening. “This entire campaign serves only to distract from the genocide in Gaza and the cratering popularity of first Benjamin Netanyahu, and now Donald Trump. We stand in solidarity with the people of Iran as we do those of Palestine and call for an end to this aggression.”
Organizers with the JVP Bay Area chapter said about 250 protesters took part in Saturday’s action, a number that could not be verified Saturday afternoon after requests for comment from the San Francisco Police Department went unreturned and officials with the Ferry Building had no comment.
The group described the action in a statement as a “Jewish-Led Sit-in” that “Demands ‘Stop Starving Gaza,’ ‘Aid, not Bombs,’ and ‘Stop Bombing Iran.’” It was also described by JVP Bay Area as the “largest Bay Area Jewish-led action in support of Palestinians in Gaza since 2023.”
In October 2023, Hamas, the governing organization of Gaza, launched a terrorist attack on Israel that killed 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, and took about 250 people hostage, about 100 of whom remained held as of Saturday. Israel responded with a military campaign that has killed an estimated 55,600-plus Palestinians and injured about 130,000, as of earlier this week, according to the United Nations.
The U.N. has called for Israel to halt the military campaign and allow food and medical aid into Gaza, which Israel has at times resisted. Its blockade of aid and the high civilian death toll led the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant.
In a separate military operation, begun on June 13 this year, Israel launched military air strikes against sites that support Iran’s nuclear program.
Then came the U.S. attacks on Iran on Saturday. Before that news hit, a spokesperson for JVP had opposed Israel’s strikes on Iran.
“Israel’s unprovoked bombing of Iran puts the entire Middle East on the brink of all-out war. It also distracts the public from the dire emergency in Gaza,” JVP Bay Area spokesperson Sydney Levy said in a statement.
The group occupied space in the Ferry Building with a sit-in that included singing, chanting and prayers. Protesters unfurled large banners and displayed protest art, and asked the public to contact their congressional representatives, according to a statement from the organization.
“One day of hunger in Gaza is a day too much. Months of hunger is genocide by starvation. We’re here amid the abundance of food at the Saturday Farmer’s Market to say, ‘Stop Starving Gaza,’” said JVP Bay Area spokesperson Chase Carter in a statement.
The U.N. has criticized a food aid program created by Israel and backed by the U.S. as dangerous and inadequate in scale.
“Far too many people have died while trying to access the trickle of food aid coming in,” the U.N. World Food Programme said in a recent statement. About 50 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli military fire at the food distribution sites and about 200 have been injured, as of Wednesday.
“Congress needs to hear that Jews of conscience — and people of conscience — demand the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and the prevention of wider war in the Middle East,” Carter said.