TEHRAN —The "shock and awe" Washington pursued in its 2026 war on Iran has been met with a different kind of astonishment: a political earthquake at home, where 59 percent of Americans now reject this war, where the president's own base feels betrayed, and where 46 senators are demanding answers about the massacre of Iranian schoolchildren in Minab.

Two weeks into a war sold as necessary and decisive, a growing chorus of opposition has emerged so broad and intense that it threatens to fundamentally redefine the limits of executive power.

The catalyst for this national reckoning has been the smoking ruins of the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls' primary school in Minab, where American munitions extinguished the lives of over 160 children—girls aged seven to twelve who were in class when the Tomahawk missile struck.

The weapon's identity matters: Tomahawks are used exclusively by the U.S. military in this conflict, directly refuting the administration's initial, desperate attempt to blame Iran.
According to the New York Times, a preliminary Pentagon investigation confirmed that the U.S. military conducted the strike.

Retired Air Force targeting specialist Wes Bryant assessed the damage and concluded this appeared to be "a deliberately targeted strike package"—a judgment that haunts every official explanation.

In his first public message on March 12, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, highlighted the Minab massacre as "deliberate crime," vowing Iran’s revenge for the deadly attack.

The congressional response has been noteworthy. Nearly all Senate Democrats—46 senators—sent a letter to War Secretary Pete Hegseth demanding a rapid investigation into the Minab strike and any other U.S. actions causing civilian casualties.

The letter, signed by every Democrat except John Fetterman, states that most victims were girls aged seven to twelve and notes that neither the U.S. nor Israel has taken responsibility.

Lawmakers requested answers by March 18 regarding whether AI systems were involved in targeting—a question that hints at the dehumanizing machinery of modern warfare where algorithms may now decide which buildings contain children.

This legislative pressure reflects a constitutional confrontation of rare intensity.

Senator Chris Murphy has explicitly labeled this "an illegal war," warning that a ground invasion "would result in thousands of Americans dying and trillions of our dollars being wasted."

Representative John Larson delivered a stark assessment: "This is not about whether we are heading towards an autocracy – we are in one. The Constitution specifically calls for Congress to make the decision about war."

What makes this moment politically explosive is that the growing chorus of opposition now includes the U.S. president's own base.

Joe Rogan, whose voice reaches millions who actually voted for Trump, captured the spreading sentiment: "It just seems so insane based on what he ran on. This is why a lot of people feel betrayed. He ran on no more wars and these stupid, senseless wars."

Tucker Carlson denounced the airstrikes and talked about how the school "was hit twice," while calling for verification to find out whether the strike was accidental.

Candace Owens's podcast "Donald Trump has Betrayed America" garnered over 2.3 million views.

"Trump lied to your face after he killed a bunch of little girls," comedian and commentator Dave Smith, who used to support the U.S. president, wrote on X.

Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene insisted that "Make America Great Again was supposed to be America first, not Israel first"—a sentiment that cuts to the heart of why many Trump voters feel deceived.

The economic arguments are proving equally potent. The war's first six days consumed $11.3 billion in munitions alone—exceeding the National Cancer Institute's annual budget—while global oil prices have surged well above $90 per barrel, with pump prices for American drivers now hovering above $3.58 a gallon.

Senator Elizabeth Warren crystallized the public's moral calculus: "While there is no money for 15 million Americans who lost their health care, there's a billion dollars a day to spend on bombing Iran."

A Data for Progress poll found 52 percent of likely voters believe the strikes were launched partly to distract from the Jeffrey Epstein files release.

A CNN survey found 59 percent of Americans oppose this conflict—the war Americans reject by a massive margin.

Quinnipiac registered 53 percent disapproval, with 74 percent opposing ground troops, including 52 percent of Republicans.

76 percent believe Iran's next leader should be chosen by Iranians, not Washington—a repudiation of regime-change ideology that has driven American foreign policy for a generation.

Street-level opposition has matched this statistical resistance. Protests have mobilized in over fifty cities.

In Washington, demonstrators carried signs reading "Trump and Netanyahu Belong in The Hague."

In New York, Jewish-American protester Yehuda Litman declared, "This is wrong and immoral. It is a crime against humanity."

Jane Fonda, speaking in Los Angeles, drew explicit Vietnam parallels.

At Union Square, the National Iranian American Council's Etan Mabourakh emphasized that "bombing and war will lead to the collapse of the country, not freedom."

The administration's response has been erratic. Trump declared the war "very complete" on March 9, while Hegseth simultaneously announced "our most intense day of strikes."

Senator Chuck Schumer observed that "the story from the administration changes by the hour." When asked about the polls, Trump told the New York Post, "I don't care about polling."

The American people have witnessed decades of forever wars, have buried thousands of their children, and have learned to recognize the pattern.