More than 40 Iowa City residents and University of Iowa students gathered on the Pentacrest March 8 to protest U.S. involvement in Iran.

The United States and Iran are currently involved in a military conflict that began in late February, when the U.S. and Israel launched coordinated airstrikes on Iranian targets, citing concerns over Iran’s nuclear program and regional influence.

Iran responded with missile and drone attacks on U.S. bases and allied countries across the Middle East, including Israel and several Gulf states.

At least six U.S. service members were killed March 1 in an Iranian drone strike on a base in Kuwait, The Des Moines Register reported, two of which were from Iowa.

According to NBC News, Iran has named Mojtaba Khamenei, son of late Ali Khamenei, as its new supreme leader.

Protesters assembled outside the Old Capitol carrying posters reading “Stop Israel Before WW3,” and “Give peace a chance.” American and Palestinian flags waved above the crowd, alongside a flag bearing a dove, as demonstrators called for an end to the conflict. 

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For many attending the protest, it reminded them of their years in college gathering to protest the draft of a different war, Vietnam. Allan Hogue, a Vietnam War veteran, recalled his time in the military and said that if people continue to express their disapproval, the U.S. might be able to prevent a multiple-year-long war like Vietnam.

“I just want to let you know that we do not need an unwinnable, forever war. We’ve been here before, and we know how it ends. We lost the war, and we left in disgrace, and we learned nothing,” Hogue said.

Sue Thompson works with Veterans for Peace, a nonprofit of former military members advocating nonviolent solutions globally, to help organize protests and said the attacks are meant to distract people from other national topics.

“I see the country falling apart, and I see that people are just ignoring what’s happening and getting into their phones and their social media,” Thompson said. “They’re trying to cover up everything that’s going on with the Epstein files. It’s completely sickening, and we need to change it.”

Responsible Statecraft, a magazine run by political analysts and experts, reported the war costing $5 billion and counting, many protesters called out the amount of money that has already been spent on the war. 

Travis Terrell, Democratic candidate for Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, called for the U.S. not to engage in war when it has “so many things to be focused on.”

“Every single one of those bombs that falls out of the sky is our tax dollars,” Terrell said. “There are families that don’t have health insurance now. But we have trillions of dollars to kill people across the f—ing world right now.”

Johnson County Supervisor Mandi Remington said she cannot imagine what the people of Iran are going through, but is also worried about children in the U.S. as well, remembering when she did bomb drills in elementary school.

“The fact that the war I was doing that for never touched our land and yet that memory has impacted me enough that it’s one of the few I still have, has me not only horrified at the children that our tax dollars are killing, but also concerned for the ones living through this kind of thing,” Remington said.

UI graduate student Brady Gell planned to just get a cup of coffee from Le Crave on Clinton Street, but when he saw the protest on the Pentacrest, he said he knew he needed to join, and eventually decided to give a speech.

“I saw this, and I just figured, why not me?” Gell said.

Throughout the protest, cars drove by, honking their horns in support, while others shouted out their windows with comments supporting Trump. Gell, during his speech, encouraged protesters to continue to engage with those in groups without similar views to create conversation and inform them.

“In this modern age of politics, it’s so easy to just find a group, but it doesn’t do anything to change the situation we’re in,” Gell said.

Shaw said not as many college students were involved in the protest and said that his generation, Gen Z, is very apathetic.

“Our generation of college students, broadly, have the belief that you can’t do anything or the belief that it won’t matter if you do. The real effort it takes is getting into people’s faces and being like, ‘Look what’s happening right now. Why don’t you care?’”