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Sanders Rips Trump-Netanyahu for 'Unraveling International Law' With War on Iran
As evidence of US war crimes mounts, critics around the world argue that "Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution."
Mar 10, 2026
As President Donald Trump on Tuesday made what one critic called "the most blasé admission of a war crime by a US president in history," claiming the Navy sunk an Iranian ship and killed over 100 sailors because it was "more fun" than capturing both, Sen. Bernie Sanders tore into him and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over their illegal war on Iran.
"The attacks on Iran by the United States and Israel are unraveling international law, the Geneva Conventions, and the legitimacy of the United Nations. This is extremely dangerous for the future of the planet and humanity," Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a statement.
While both the Republican-controlled Senate and House of Representatives have refused to pass a war powers resolution to stop the assault, experts worldwide have argued the assault violates the US Constitution, which gives Congress the authority to declare war, and UN Charter, which prohibits the use of force against another state unless it is a "necessary and proportionate" act of self-defense or is authorized by the Security Council.
"If the United States and Israel have the right to launch a unilateral attack against Iran, what is the moral or legal argument against China invading Taiwan, Russia attacking Poland, or North Korea launching missiles into South Korea? There is none," warned Sanders, who has supported war powers resolutions on Iran, Venezuela, and the president's boat bombing campaign. "In Trump's world, any nation has the 'right' to go to war against any other nation for any reason."
"After the horrors of World War II, the international community came together to establish international law—a system of rules designed to prevent aggressive wars and hold nations accountable for violating basic human rights," said the senator, whose father lost relatives in the Holocaust. "Trump and Netanyahu are destroying that effort and are pushing the global community back into international anarchy—a world that produced 10 million dead in World War I and 50 million dead in World War II."
Sanders argued that "we cannot go back to a world where might makes right—where any nation can invade, bomb, or destabilize another country for any reason they choose. That mentality leaves all of us, and future generations, increasingly unsafe."
In addition to opposing Trump's violence at home and abroad, the senator has railed against US complicity in Netanyahu's genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip, where the death toll continues to rise despite an October ceasefire deal. He even forced multiple unsuccessful Senate votes to cut off some US weapons to Israel over the bloodshed in the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu not only bombed and starved the Palestinians of Gaza after the Hamas-led October 2023 attack on Israel, he also bombarded Lebanon, claiming to target Hezbollah. While a ceasefire agreement to protect the Lebanese people was reached in November 2024, Israel has returned to attacking the country since launching the assault on Iran last month.
More than 1,300 Iranians are now dead, including multiple political leaders as well as around 175 people, mostly children, killed in what increasingly appears to have been a US strike on a girls' elementary school in Minab. US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters that Tuesday would "be yet again our most intense day of strikes inside Iran."
Meanwhile, Jostein Hauge, an assistant professor at the UK's University of Cambridge, noted on social media Tuesday that "the Minab school massacre in Iran—carried out by the US government—is one of the deadliest school massacres in modern history."
He put the US president and Pentagon chief in a class with not only Netanyahu but also former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who are all wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court.
"Trump and Hegseth should be sent straight to The Hague to face prosecution for war crimes, alongside Netanyahu, Gallant, Putin, and al-Bashir," Hauge said.
While the American public is already enduring some economic fallout of Trump's war on Iran, at least seven US troops have paid with their lives. Eight more "remain listed as severely injured," according to chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell. "Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, approximately 140 US service members have been wounded over 10 days of sustained attacks."
Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.), Cory Booker (NJ), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), and Adam Schiff (Calif.)—with whom Sanders caucuses—have launched a renewed effort to force new votes on war powers resolutions if Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) refuses to hold committee hearings on Iran.
"Now is the time for Democrats to use all the leverage we have to try to stop this unnecessary war," they said Monday in a joint statement to Semafor. The senators added that Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio "must immediately come before Congress for a public hearing and explain why we're in this war, how it will end, and why they are prioritizing billions of dollars on an open-ended war instead of lowering costs for American families."
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Death Toll of Paramedics Killed by Israel in Lebanon Climbs to 15
A medical charity leader said Israel is using its Gaza “playbook” during its assaults on Lebanon, including “collective punishment, forced displacement, and the deliberate terrorizing of civilian populations.”
Mar 10, 2026
Israeli attacks in Lebanon have killed at least 15 paramedics and wounded another 30 in just over a week, according to a report from the Islamic Health Authority on Tuesday.
The report comes after a pair of strikes targeted emergency response teams in South Lebanon the previous day, killing two paramedics and wounding several others.
It was the latest in what the Lebanese Public Health Ministry described as systemic attacks on ambulance and rescue teams that have been waged by Israel since it restarted its assault on Lebanon last week, which has prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to urge their protection.
"The risk that more health workers will count among the casualties is high," said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, following an attack on the southern Tyre district where three paramedics were killed last week. "This must be avoided at all costs, so paramedics, doctors, and nurses can be allowed to carry out their lifesaving work, which is especially needed in times of crisis."
A report on Sunday from Health Minister Rakan Nassereddine said that at least four hospitals in Lebanon had been damaged by Israeli strikes since March 2.
Lebanon's Health Ministry reported that as of Tuesday, at least 570 people have been killed and 1,444 have been wounded from Israeli airstrikes since March 2.
Meanwhile, more than 750,000 people have been displaced from their homes following orders from the Israeli military last week, according to the UN Children's Fund.
Nassereddine said that shelling has forced the ministry to quickly evacuate patients and those injured in the latest onslaught to other hospitals. At least 40 hospitals in Lebanon were damaged in Israel's previous assault on the country in 2023-24, according to health ministry data.
The US and Israel have waged an even larger assault on hospitals in Iran since February 28. Health Ministry spokesperson Hossein Kermanpour said Sunday that 25 hospitals have been damaged, with nine totally out of service. He said 14 ambulances have also been destroyed.
Emphasizing that medical and humanitarian workers are protected under international law, the Lebanese Islamic Health Authority said that attacks on hospitals "constitute a blatant violation of all international conventions, foremost among them the Geneva Conventions."
The group Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), a UK-based charity, has accused Israel of applying the same methods it used in Gaza as it has launched its latest military assault on Lebanon.
During Israel's more than two-year-long genocide, it launched strikes that damaged every hospital in the strip. According to research from MAP, Israeli attacks killed about two to three medical workers per day on average.
“What we are witnessing in Lebanon is the unmistakable extension of the Israeli military playbook used in Gaza,” Steve Cutts, the CEO of MAP, said. He said this includes "collective punishment, forced displacement, and the deliberate terrorizing of civilian populations, including already traumatized Palestinian communities."
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Billionaires Tax Supporters Up in California By Nearly 2-to-1, Poll Shows
"The American people are sick and tired of massive income and wealth inequality," said Sen. Bernie Sanders. "Billionaires need to start paying their fair share."
Mar 10, 2026
Voters in California are supporting a proposed wealth tax on billionaires in their state by a ratio of almost 2-to-1, according to a poll conducted by the Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research.
Politico, which commissioned the poll from the center at the University of California, Berkeley, reported on Tuesday that support for the billionaire tax is currently at 50% of California voters, while just 28% registered opposition.
However, University of California Berkeley political scientist Jack Citrin told Politico that the measure's passage isn't yet a slam dunk because voters remain vulnerable to counterarguments against the plan, which would impose a one-time 5% tax on billionaires' total wealth.
"The yes side has the current lead and you have some strong supporters, so that’s the good news," Citrin explained. "Most experts on the initiative process say that the yes side has an advantage to start with because no one’s been talking about it and it sounds like a good idea... but then once the campaign begins you whittle away at that."
Among other things, the poll found voters were concerned about whether the wealth tax would really be a one-time measure, whether it would push wealthy individuals out of the state, and whether the middle class would be forced to pay more in taxes to make up for the potentially departed billionaires.
Citrin told Politico that supporters of the wealth tax will have to convince voters that billionaires' threats to leave California if the measure passes are a bluff.
"If you’re the yes side you have to hammer away at: this isn’t true, they’re not going to leave, it’s just scare tactics," Citrin said.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who along with other progressives has championed the wealth tax, hailed the UC Berkeley poll as a sign that the political tide is turning against US oligarchs.
"A new poll shows voters overwhelmingly support California’s proposal to tax billionaire wealth to fund healthcare—by nearly a 2-to-1 margin," Sanders wrote in a social media post. "The American people are sick and tired of massive income and wealth inequality. Billionaires need to start paying their fair share."
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, seen as a likely 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, has gone on the record opposing the wealth tax and has said he will campaign for its defeat.
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Another Senator Backs Platner, Saying 'Democratic Party Needs to Win Back Working People'
New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich said the Mainer is "building a movement around folks who work hard for their family and community."
Mar 10, 2026
US Senate hopeful Graham Platner's momentum continues to grow, with yet another senator bucking the Democratic Party establishment to endorse him in Maine's June primary.
"Graham Platner is focused on delivering for Mainers, not billionaire donors,” said Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM) on Tuesday in comments reported by Politico. “And he’s exactly the person the Democratic Party needs to win back working people.”
Polls show Platner, the progressive 41-year-old Marine-turned-oyster farmer, comfortably ahead of Maine's centrist Democratic Gov. Janet Mills for the right to challenge the state's five-term Republican incumbent Sen. Susan Collins in November.
The seat will be an essential pickup if Democrats hope to retake the chamber in 2026.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has pushed for Mills to get the nomination over Platner. This is despite polling last week from Quantus Insights, which showed Mills trailing Collins by over 1%, and Platne leading the Republican by more than 5% among likely voters.
Platner—a backer of Medicare for All and a billionaire wealth tax who has fiercely opposed aggressive US military interventions—first received the backing of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
Earlier this month, Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) became the first Democratic senator to endorse Platner, in defiance of party leadership, calling him "the candidate that can win."
Heinrich, who has emphasized the necessity of making the Democratic Party a "bigger tent" and bringing in “new" and "younger" leadership, has admired Platner's candidacy from afar for months.
Responding to Platner's campaign launch video, in which he declared that "the enemy is the oligarchy," Heinrich wrote on social media in October, "We need more candidates like this."
New Mexico's three-term senator is now the third member of the chamber to endorse Platner, who said he was "honored" to have him as a "future colleague."
"He's building a movement around folks who work hard for their family and community—folks who deserve a Senator fighting in their corner," Heinrich said. "I’m proud to endorse and help send him to the Senate in November."
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