Why Zohran Mamdani denounced the US-Israeli strikes on Iran
By Katherine Koretski, Mark Morales, CNN
(CNN) — Shortly after President Donald Trump announced that the US and Israel had carried out military strikes in Iran, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani weighed in.
“A catastrophic escalation in an illegal war of aggression,” he said in a post on X.
“Bombing cities. Killing civilians. Opening a new theater of war,” Mamdani wrote in a post on X on Saturday. “Americans do not want this. They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis. They want peace.”
Mamdani came out in more emphatic opposition than many other New York elected officials or top Democrats who argued Trump should have sought congressional approval prior to the strikes. In turn, he was denounced by critics who accused him of siding with Iran over the US – a reaction that highlights the delicate line Mamdani walks balancing the politics of his base with the diverse views of the residents of an international city.
“There’s a lot of specific reasons a mayor of New York City has a voice internationally,” former New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio, a Mamdani supporter, told CNN.
Mamdani rose to power on the strength of overwhelming support with younger voters, who backed him over former Gov. Andrew Cuomo by 60 points in last year’s mayoral election.
His comments opposing the launch of US attacks against Iran broadly align with the views of younger Americans nationwide in CNN’s polling. Among those younger than 30, 76% disapprove of the decision to take military action there, outpacing disapproval among older adults by double-digits.
Voters of Tomorrow, a youth-led organization, support the mayor’s position. “Zohran is absolutely correct in saying that Americans do not want this. Gen Z stands with him in condemning Donald Trump’s unjustified war of aggression,” Jessica Siles, communications director for the organization, told CNN in a statement.
Mamdani, the city’s first Muslim mayor and one of its youngest in history, referenced memories of the US war in Iraq, in which American troops – acting on since-debunked claims that the Iraqi government possessed weapons of mass destruction – were mired in a years-long conflict that resulted in an estimated 275,000 to 300,000 deaths, including 4,600 US troops, according to Brown University’s Costs of War project.
“I’ve said before that the Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year,” Mamdani said at a news conference on Tuesday.
“It is a brutal government, and I’ve also said that, while I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to remember the devastating consequences of our country pursuing a war with the intent of regime change in that very same region not that many years ago.”
Conservative voices slammed Mamdani.
Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams replied to the new mayor’s post on X saying, “The ones screaming in protest are the usual political fanatics on the far left and far right.” Texas Sen. Ted Cruz called Mamdani a “communist who hates America.”
The Democratic Socialists of America, meanwhile, said it stood “firmly in agreement” with the first mayor to come from its group.
“Americans want solutions to the affordability crisis, not a joint US-Israeli war of aggression against Iran. We unequivocally condemn the attacks on Iran and the violations of its sovereignty,” DSA said in a statement.
Increased security
Mamdani also posted on social media following the attack that he had been in contact with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and other emergency management officials regarding deployments to what he called “sensitive locations” around the city.
Tisch and other top NYPD officials briefed Mamdani Saturday morning and again Monday afternoon, according to a city official.
Mamdani is expected to hold these briefings every two to three days as needed, the official said. The focus so far has been on law enforcement monitoring for potential copycat attacks, the official said. So far, there have not been any credible threats.
Counterterrorism and patrol units have a working list of places to add protection to during high profile events, according to a law enforcement official. Elite counterterrorism units are mostly deployed to high-profile locations in Manhattan and Brooklyn while patrol units handle the rest.
It’s a process that law enforcement in the area has repeated many times in the decades since 9/11, and one that, historically, has needed little direction from City Hall, the official said.
Mamdani’s relationship with Trump
Trump and Mamdani met in the Oval Office last Thursday in a meeting focused on housing that also included a discussion about US Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations being carried out in New York.
Mamdani said in a news conference on Friday that the two had a “productive” meeting and that it would be part of a continuing conversation, though Mamdani didn’t share specifics on if another one-on-one had been planned.
In January, just days after his inauguration, Mamdani called Trump to “register his opposition” in the capturing of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and his wife. “Unilaterally attacking a sovereign nation is an act of war and a violation of federal and international law,” he wrote on X.
Mamdani said at a press conference on Tuesday that he has not spoken to President Trump since their meeting last week.
“I think it’s much more important that he offered Trump the idea of collaborating on the affordable housing plan and allowing Trump to do something monumental in New York City,” De Blasio told CNN. “That is much more important to Trump than Mamdani opposing action in Iran in a way that no one will be surprised by.”
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