TEHRAN – A U.S. Senator, Chris Murphy, has said that targeting civilians and cultural sites is what terrorists do.

His remarks came as U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted on Saturday threatening attack on 52 Iranian sites, including cultural ones.

“Targeting civilians and cultural sites is what terrorists do. It’s a war crime,” Murphy wrote on Tweeter account on Saturday.

“Trump is stumbling into a war of choice. A war entirely of his making. A war that will get thousands of Americans killed. Congress must stop him,” he added.

Demonstrators in dozens of cities around the U.S. gathered Saturday to protest the U.S. assassination of Iranian military commander Lieutenant General Soleimani in Baghdad on Friday morning.

According to the Associated Press, more than 70 planned protests were organized by CODEPINK and Act Now to Stop War and End Racism, a U.S.-based anti-war coalition, along with other groups.

From Tampa to Philadelphia and San Francisco to New York, protesters carried signs and chanted anti-war slogans.

Protest organizers said the Trump administration has essentially started a war with Iran by assassinating General Soleimani.

In Miami, people shouted, “No more drone murders,” “We want peace now” and “What do we want? Peace in Iran.”

Demonstrators gathered in Times Square on Saturday chanting “No justice, no peace, U.S. out of the Middle East!”

In Minneapolis, protesters gathered near the University of Minnesota holding signs and chanting. Among them was Meredith Aby, a longtime leader of the local Anti-War Committee.

“We need to be pulling out of Iraq, not sending thousands more troops. We need to be trying to cool things down with Iran, not pouring gasoline on a fire,” Aby, 47, said.

NA/PA