At a veteran-led protest on Capitol Hill, grief and dismay reverberate over Iran war

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Some 150 veterans and military families who oppose the Iran war occupied a congressional building earlier this week, leading to dozens of arrests. NPR’s Juliana Kim spoke with some of them.

JULIANA KIM, BYLINE: Inside the historic Cannon House Office Building, protesters lined up in rows holding up a sign that read, we can’t afford another war. Veterans weren’t just talking about the actual dollars funding the conflict with Iran. They were talking about the cost in human lives.

KEVIN BENJAMIN: We’ve already had – 13 is the number of killed in action in Iran. So, I mean, those families will never be the same. And their friends will never be the same.

KIM: Kevin Benjamin (ph) is an Army veteran who fought in Iraq and was at the protest on Monday, which was organized by the group About Face and several other veteran organizations. Benjamin says he knows all too well about the trauma and loss that service members bear after a war.

BENJAMIN: I’m just nervous and upset about what I know these young service members are going to be facing when they are in Iran.

KIM: Robert Cheng (ph) is another Army veteran who was at the protest. And he says he’s concerned that the conflict with Iran will drag on years, like America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

ROBERT CHENG: I had this deep sense of frustration that we were allowing another war to start in my lifetime.

KIM: He says many veterans still wrestle with whether the fighting in Iraq was justified. He doesn’t want a new generation to grapple with those kinds of questions.

CHENG: They’re sending, you know, people in their 20s off to war to fight for what? Who knows? Because the objectives are not clear.

KIM: The war with Iran is nearing the two-month mark. On Tuesday, the ceasefire was extended indefinitely while the U.S. continues a naval blockade on Iran. When asked about veterans’ concerns about the U.S. entering another forever war, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement that, quote, “once Iran’s nuclear threat is removed for good, America and the entire world will be safer and more stable.” End quote.

Juliana Kim, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF BERRY WEIGHT’S “YETI’S LAMENT”)

Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.