Anti-war activists gathered outside the White House on Wednesday night to denounce Israel’s airstrikes on Iran and protest President Donald Trump’s consideration of a U.S. military strike on Iranian nuclear sites amid escalating conflict in the Middle East.

About 200 protesters waving Iranian and Palestinian flags and holding “No new war in the Middle East” signs gathered at 6 p.m. on Wednesday as Iran and Israel continued airstrikes in a conflict that intensified after Israel attacked Iranian nuclear and military sites on June 13. The anti-war demonstration, organized by a coalition of DMV organizations opposing U.S. support for Israel, featured speakers from the Palestinian Youth Movement DMV chapter, Students for Justice in Palestine, Veterans Against Warfare and the Black Alliance for Peace, all accusing Trump of backing Israel’s violence in the Middle East.

Israel launched Operation Rising Lion on June 13 to attack Iran’s nuclear and military sites, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu citing the attack as necessary to “roll back the Iranian threat to Israel’s very survival.” Iran responded by launching about 100 drones towards Israel that morning, according to the Israeli Defense Force, and the countries have since continued to exchange strikes.

In Iran’s most recent release of the death toll on Monday it reported that Israeli airstrikes had killed 244 people and wounded 1,277. The Human Rights Activists in Iran group reported on Thursday that 639 people had been killed, with 1,300 wounded. 24 people have been killed by Iran’s retaliatory strikes in Israel.

Trump is weighing whether the U.S. should help Israel attack Iran’s Fordo uranium enrichment facility, which speakers at the rally condemned. Trump on Thursday said he’ll decide in the next two weeks whether the U.S. military will get involved, citing a “substantial chance” of negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear program.

Rob, who did not provide their last name and identified themselves as a former U.S. Army paratrooper and member of Veterans Against Warfare, called on active duty service members to live a “fulfilled life” outside of the armed forces and avoid deployment to a potential war with Iran. Rob said his time in the U.S. Army showed him that the institution doesn’t care for its soldiers, and encouraged attendees to get in contact with Veterans Against Warfare to avoid being deployed should the U.S. reinstate the draft.

“So now’s the time to think, who cares about you?” Rob said. “Who cares? Does your battalion commander care? Does your division commander care? Does the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs care about you? Does the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, care about you? Does the commander in chief, Donald Trump, care about you?”

The next speaker, a representative from the SJP DMV coalition who did not share their name, said Iran’s resistance despite the assassination of its high-level leaders demonstrated their “steadfastness” against Israel. The speaker also said Israeli and American aggression against Iran was a continuation of Western intervention in the country that started with the Western backed coup against the democratically elected Iranian prime minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in the 1950s. 

“The Iranian people have demonstrated their steadfastness in weathering these attacks, and have demonstrated their strengths and their responses,” the speaker said. “We say the settler state is a paper tiger. Now we get to watch it further.”

A small group of counter protesters waving American and Israeli flags gathered outside of the protest, with one protester walking behind the speakers at about 7:10 p.m. to disrupt the rally.

Ria, who did not provide their last name and identified as an organizer with the ANSWER Coalition — an anti-war organization formed after the September 11, 2001 attacks — said in her speech to the crowd she came to condemn the “illegal and unprovoked” Israeli attacks on Iran. Ria compared the current war to the 2003 Iraq war, which former President George W. Bush justified by claiming Ba’athist leader Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons of mass destruction, which turned out to be false.

“This war is based on lies,” Ria said. “Just like the lies that fueled the Iraq war.”

Ria criticized Trump’s rationale that Iran is “on the verge” of obtaining nuclear weapons. In March, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard told Congress that Iran did not intend to build nuclear weapons. In order to make nuclear warheads, Iran would need to enrich uranium to 90 percent purity. Currently, latest U.S. intelligence claims the country has enriched to 60 percent.

On Tuesday, Trump dismissed Gabbard’s claims, stating “I don’t care what she said,” and asserting his belief that Iran is “very close” to building nuclear weapons.

“How many times have we been told this lie,” Ria said. “How many endless wars will be sold to us?”

A speaker who identified themselves as Jacqueline Lumon, the chairperson of the coordinating committee for the Black Alliance for Peace, said Israeli and U.S. imperialism was the reason Israel was escalating its “war of aggression” against Iran.

“The international community must categorically reject Israel’s fraudulent claim to jurisdiction over Iran’s lawful nuclear energy program, and the U.S. needs to get out of their business,” Lumon said.

An organizer then told protesters to disperse at about 8:22 p.m.