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For Immediate Release
November, 02 2018, 12:00am EDT
Contact:
Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action, 951-217-7285 cell, pmartin@peace-action.org
Gabe Murphy, Peace Action, 510-501-3345 cell, gmurphy@peaceaction.org
WASHINGTON
Ahead of the Trump administration's reimposition of oil, banking, and shipping sanctions against Iran scheduled for November 5th, Paul Kawika Martin, Senior Director for Policy and Political Affairs at Peace Action, released the following statement:
"The reimposition of these sanctions should be seen for what it is: the latest step in a calculated campaign by this White House to provoke war with Iran. From putting Iran 'on notice' at the start of 2017, to violating and withdrawing from the successful, multilateral Iran nuclear agreement despite Iran's verifiable compliance and strong objections from our allies, to these latest actions to strangle Iran's economy, this administration is beating a path to war. As tragic and devastating as the Iraq War was, war with Iran would be far more catastrophic to the region and to global stability.
"For the administration to feign concern for the Iranian people while imposing sanctions that will devastate the financial wellbeing of the Iranian people is outrageous. As for his supposed motivation of bringing Iran back to the negotiating table, if President Trump really wanted to negotiate with Iran, he wouldn't have brought long-time advocates of regime change in Iran like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo into his inner circle. He wouldn't have threatened Iran in all caps on Twitter with 'consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.' In case the cheerleaders for regime change don't remember, we already helped orchestrate regime change in Iran in 1953, and the consequences of that decision haunt us to this day.
"The Trump administration should not give Saudi Arabia a pass on war crimes in Yemen and the murder of a reporter to allow Saudi oil to flow, while restricting oil needed by our allies from Iran when Tehran upheld its obligations under the successful Iran agreement.
"On Election Day, many Americans will be choosing between supporters of Trump's regime-change tactics in Congress and their challengers. That's why Peace Action is working for dozens of candidates who understand that diplomacy and the Iran agreement make Americans safer. We need a Congress that puts America's interests in diplomacy and nonproliferation over the interests of political operatives like Bolton who are still enamoured with the obscene pursuit of forcibly overthrowing governments we don't happen to agree with on everything."
Peace Action is the United States' largest peace and disarmament organization with over 100,000 members and nearly 100 chapters in 34 states, works to achieve the abolition of nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs and encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights.
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WARNING: The following article contains graphic video.
In the original video of the shooting of a man in Minneapolis, identified by the Minneapolis Star Tribune at 37-year-old Alex Jeffrey Pretti, a woman in a pink coat was seen in the background filming the incident with her phone.
Drop Site News obtained footage that appeared "to come from the direction of the woman in pink filming from the sidewalk" and showed the shooting at a closer distance than the footage taken from inside Glam Doll Donuts.
In the video, the shooting victim, dressed in a brown coat and pants, is seen filming a federal agent with his phone. He's then seen guiding another person toward the sidewalk as the agent forcefully shoves a third person to the ground.
Another angle of federal agents killing a Minnesota legal observer, which appears to come from the direction of the woman in pink filming from the sidewalk.
Obtained by Drop Site News pic.twitter.com/IT56ftPkYP
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) January 24, 2026
The agent appears to pepper-spray Pretti and pull him away from the other person as a group of several other officers approach and surround him.
They wrestle him to the ground and struggle with him for several seconds before he appears to try to get up. Roughly 10 gun shots ring out and Pretti falls to the ground.
"What the fuck did you do? What the fuck did you do?" yells the woman behind the camera repeatedly.
"Cowards," said US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) in response to the footage.
The video, said journalist Susan Glasser, "shows that the final act of his life was trying to help a woman who was being physically assaulted by the masked agents who would then kill him."
The video contradicted the Department of Homeland Security's claim that Pretti had approached immigration officers with a gun.
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This is a developing story. Please check back for possible updates...
Update (1:00 pm ET):
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Earlier:
Federal immigration agents reportedly shot another person in Minneapolis Saturday morning.
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A supervisor in the FBI's Minneapolis field office became the latest official to resign over the federal law enforcement agency's handling of the investigation into an immigration agent's fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month.
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