Operation Epic Fury and Iran Policy

Iranian-American journalist and regime critic Masih Alinejad publicly condemned New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani for his reaction to joint U.S.–Israeli strikes on Iran under Operation Epic Fury, accusing him on X of sympathizing with a regime that she says has killed tens of thousands of unarmed Iranians. Mamdani had posted a statement calling the strikes a 'catastrophic escalation' in an 'illegal war of aggression' that bombs cities and kills civilians, arguing Americans want relief from an affordability crisis, not 'another war in pursuit of regime change.' Alinejad, who survived an Iranian assassination plot in New York in 2024, responded that Mamdani stayed silent when Iranians were massacred and when Tehran’s agents tried to kill dissidents on U.S. soil, and said she does not feel safe in New York hearing a mayor speak that way. She also told CNN, alongside Iranian-American entrepreneur Moj Mahdara, that Democrats must move past personal dislike of Donald Trump when assessing the strikes, framing the situation as a national-security and regional-stability question for the U.S. and its Gulf partners. The exchange highlights a widening split among U.S. progressives and the Iranian diaspora over how to view Trump’s Iran campaign, with many online activists amplifying Alinejad’s criticism while others echo Mamdani’s warnings about an open-ended war.