KEPW News interviews Kaleigh Bronson-Cook

Presenter: Protests were organized in Eugene Saturday and Monday in response to the attacks on Iran, and KEPW’s Todd Boyle and Curtis Blankinship were there. On Saturday, Kaleigh Bronson-Cook:

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (Feb. 28, 2026): We are here at a critical moment. We’re here within hours of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran to demonstrate that the people of this country do not want another war in our name.

Negotiations have been stalling for some time between the U.S. and Israel and Iran. The demands that they’ve been making have always been insane and unreasonable, but it’s proven now what their explicit intentions were and are, which is regime change in Iran. Israel wants every country in the Middle East to be divided and completely compliant in their plans for Zionist occupation.

“No threats, no bombs, no war with Iran.” Folks, I first chanted that chant eight years ago on my college campus. And here we are again, right? This is a targeted attack on the sovereignty of the people of Iran. This is a regime change operation. This is an imperialist war.

This unprovoked act of war that Trump and Israel have carried out to pursue Trump’s twisted dream of running the whole world—it is completely illegal under both the Constitution and international law.

Iran has not attacked the United States and has no intention to. Trump decided to initiate this war because he wants to be able to dictate to any government around the world what it should do in its own country.

Anybody know the only country on earth to have ever used nuclear weapons? Is it Iran? (No.) Is it Yemen? (No.) Is it Libya? (No.) Is it Iraq? (No.) Is it Afghanistan? (No.) Is it the U.S.? (Yes.) Yes.

What right does the U.S. have to lecture anyone about democracy or human rights as the only country on earth to have ever used nuclear weapons, when ICE is executing protesters in broad daylight and everyday Americans can’t even afford to live a dignified life? (That’s right.)

I want to thank you all for being here today. As I said, this came together as a result of the strikes on Iran this morning. I want to thank the party for Socialism and Liberation, the Lane County Immigrant Defense Network, Indivisible Eugene Springfield, Veterans For Peace, Planet Versus Pentagon, Eugene Springfield Democratic Socialists of America, and University of Oregon Young Democratic Socialists of America.

Thank you all so much for being here today. Oh, also the Answer Coalition.

Today we’re here to show that the American people reject another war in our name. No war for oil. No more blood for oil.

Presenter: KEPW’s Curtis Blankinship interviewed Kaleigh at the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse Monday night. 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Tonight we’re here because we as a community, we do not want to see another war in the Middle East. We have needs in our own country, in our own communities that are not being met. 

The vast majority of Americans do not support military intervention in Iran. We want justice, we want peace. We do not want to send our neighbors, our children to go fight in another war for oil.

We are here because we stand for human rights and human dignity. I personally am here because I saw the footage of the school in southern Iran where over 165 children, young girls, were killed, slaughtered, with my taxpayer dollars funding that. and we want our tax dollars to be going to things like jobs and education and roads, not to endless war in the Middle East.

And I think our local and state leaders need to stand against this. They need to stand for our communities, and our communities do not want our tax dollars going to fund a more endless war in the Middle East. We need housing, we need infrastructure.

I work at the University of Oregon. We need to invest in higher education. We just laid off many people. We need to invest in our own communities, not send it abroad to kill children. We don’t want to see more U.S. servicemen and women killed in combat. We want them to be home and we want them to be a part of building our communities, not killing other communities abroad.

Many, many large organizations are calling for a day of mass mobilization on Saturday because ultimately, you know, Trump is escalating the war in Iran. He has confirmed today that they are sending more ground troops and more fighter jets. And it, it’s the American people that are going to, we have to stop him.

No one is going to do it for us. But ultimately, at the end of the day, it’s the American people that need to stand up and demand more of our government, demand better, and say no more war in our name. Thank you.

Presenter: KEPW’s Curtis Blankinship:

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): You talked about social programs here in the United States. Don’t we owe Iran reparations for putting, for installing the Shah? 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Yes. I believe that we owe reparations to all people who have been impacted by U.S. imperialism, including the people of Gaza, including the people of Iran, Venezuela, Cuba. All victims of U.S. imperialism deserve reparations.

They deserve sanctions to be lifted immediately. They deserve reparations and investment into their communities for the harm and the devastation that we’ve caused. Yes, absolutely. 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): And for the same amount of money that we’ve spent on war (Yes, yes.) It’s a kind of a bargain. 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Yes. And I think what you’re pointing to is really important, which is recognizing that this isn’t actually about freedom or safety or human rights in Iran.

If it was, then we would do that, right? We would invest in schools. We would invest in infrastructure. We would invest in social programs.

But instead we’re investing in bombs. And so what does that lead us to realize is, we have a military-industrial complex. Our government operates as a money laundering operation, taking tax dollars and turning it into kickbacks for board executives of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

That is what is happening here. And ultimately it is the people of the United States’ responsibility as the people whose tax dollars are being used to murder innocent people to stand against it 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): And the money would be better spent. Your money, your tax dollars, even conservatives (Yes!), your tax dollars are literally blown up—

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Quite literally blown up. And—

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): And the bombs are millions of dollars. 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Millions of dollars. And not just bombs. Like yes, like, the financial costs, but also the human costs to our own—not only to the people of Iran, but also to the people of Gaza, to the people of Cuba who don’t have power for their hospitals right now—but to our own servicemen and women who are dying. For what? For empire, for oil.

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): So, Trump got up there and said, ‘Yeah, there should be no nuclear weapons (Yeah) in the Middle East. (Yeah.) But I’m sure you know, Israel has had nuclear weapons. 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): That’s correct. That’s correct. Israel has had nuclear weapons since the ’70s, and the United States is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons.

So the argument that we have to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons is completely unfounded. It’s completely based on racist lies. It’s propaganda to be able to drive up support for a war and another endless war in the Middle East. 

My one-sentence answer to that is that the United States is the only country to have ever used a nuclear weapon. So for us to then go around talking about human rights and democracy, and that, ‘Oh, we need to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.’

We are the only country that has ever used a nuclear weapon on a civilian population. Period. 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): Do you think this is a distraction from Gaza where we have not gotten, we have still not gotten food aid into Gaza? (That’s right.) So is this, do you think this is a distraction from Trump’s mistakes, or unfulfilled promises?

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Yeah. I think that the Israeli lobby and the United States deeply have been very committed to regime change in Iran for 10 presidential administrations. 

So I think that we are in a unique moment in that Trump was one who was able or who was willing, right, had the ability or the willingness to use the United States military to carry out regime change in Iran.

However, he is not the first president that has wanted this. And so, is it a distraction? I don’t think so. I think it’s a symptom of the system that we live under. I don’t think it’s a meticulously planned-out distraction.

I’m sure it’s very helpful as a distraction about Gaza or the Epstein files or whatever else have you, a distraction, frankly, from the fact that we can’t afford to pay our rent and our groceries and our gas prices are about to explode.

So just to drum up support for this kind of an action, I wouldn’t say it’s a distraction. I think that it’s endemic to the system. I think it’s part of the system to act this way.

I think that Trump, the only thing that makes Trump different is that he was willing to do what nine, eight presidents before him wanted to do. 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): The reason we don’t want nuclear weapons in the Middle East is that, that is a very unstable area. (Right?) Wouldn’t this be considered nuclear brinksmanship to do this? Is this brinkmanship? Is there a danger? (Yes!). Isn’t this putting into us in major danger? 

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): Yes. I think that this reckless, illegal attack is exactly what you described. It is escalatory.

I would love to see a world with no nuclear weapons. But as long as the United States has nuclear weapons and it is the only country that has exercised the use of nuclear weapons against a civilian population, it is deeply unsettling and disturbing.

It is reckless, and yes, it is putting us at risk. It’s putting those servicemen and women at risk. Those people are going to come back in caskets. And for what? For a reckless decision to carry out regime change, after stalled negotiations that were good-faith, that were supposedly making progress. And for what? 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): For antiquated technology, oil or antiquated, that we don’t even use. (Yeah.) So what should people do then?  

Kaleigh Bronson-Cook (March 2, 2026): People need to join the movement. We are building a new and revived anti-war movement in the United States and people need to get involved.

We can look back to history. We look back to Vietnam, we look back to the Iraq war. And we know that we have a long road ahead. I hope we don’t have a long road ahead, but we have to organize and we have to fight back. Otherwise, these warmongers will blow up the entire world—quite literally. 

Curtis Blankinship (KEPW): Thank you very much. Thanks for what you’re doing.

Presenter: KEPW’s Todd Boyle and Curtis Blankinship report from protests at the old Federal Building Saturday and at the Wayne Morse Federal Courthouse Monday evening.