New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said his opposition to the war with Iran was “of a moral nature” and that the conflict has led to a dehumanization that reached beyond the boundaries of the war in an interview with Qatari government-funded outlet Al Jazeera on Friday.
“We are speaking about a war that has killed thousands of civilians,” Mamdani said.
Mamdani expressed frustration with the cost of the war, claiming it was unpopular in New York City and across the US, not just because of the conflict's direct consequences, but because the billions of dollars spent could have funded domestic projects and programs within the US.
“The very things that I often speak about that are necessary for New Yorkers…would cost a fraction of this tens of billions that we are seeing [fund the war],” Mamdani said.
“It should frustrate all of us,” he added.
Dehumanization within the US
In addition, Mamdani claimed that the war had led to violence and prejudice in the US as well.
“At the heart of every war is a dehumanization…that is never confined just to the war,” Mamdani said.
He spoke about a young Muslim woman who had been attacked on a subway platform by an assailant who told her he wondered how many Iranians the US had killed that day before throwing her to the ground.
“That is the dehumanization we are allowing to proliferate in our country,” Mamdani said.