Workers across the United States reacted furiously Tuesday to Trump’s threat to “annihilate” the civilization of Iran, a country of more than 92 million people. While a two-week ceasefire was announced shortly before his 8:00 p.m. deadline to destroy power plants, bridges and other civilian infrastructure across the country, there is no reason to believe this represents a step back from the brink. Previous rounds of “negotiations” served only as a ruse for the United States to assassinate top Iranian officials, including the February 28 murder of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Regardless of what happens, Trump’s utter lawlessness has already exposed the brutality of American capitalism before workers across the world. It will contribute to a growing radicalization in the working class, convincing workers of the need for the socialist reconstruction of society.

In a video Monday morning, WSWS International Editorial Board Chairman David North declared: “Even at this late hour the working class throughout the world must declare its opposition to this monstrous crime. It must be stopped. It cannot be allowed to happen.”

Below is a selection of responses to this call from workers across the United States.

Massachusetts nurse: “As a retired nurse and as a human being, I say this should not happen. We as citizens must stop this war crime against Iran, a sovereign nation. I stand with the Iranian people as an American against this war and all wars against humanity.”

General Motors worker: “It’s a nasty situation, right now. I’m a veteran and no fan of war. I’m totally opposed, which is one of the reasons I got out of the military. In addition to the violence it causes, the other thing it does—the multiple deployments, the stress, damage—it breaks families and family members. People still volunteer, and you’re just at the mercy of whoever’s at the reins.

“[Veterans are] supposedly honored, but they had no say in anything they did. It’s so hypocritical. And the recruiters have to hit their quotas, and they’ll say anything to get you to do it. Snake oil salesmen.”

Locked-out BP refinery worker in Whiting, Indiana: “It’s disgusting. No thanks to any Congress people, as they continue to just sit on their hands. They’ve been guilty of terrible crimes in our own neighborhoods, kidnapping humans, and nobody knows where they went. So it’s nothing shocking. It’s disgusting, and I’m hoping he doesn’t nuke anyone. But it’s not like even that atrocious act would shock me, because he’s clearly capable of it.

“I know BP’s the one that’s caused the war! They’re the ones who originally destabilized the Iranian government [in the overthrow of the democratic government of Mohammad Mosaddegh].”

Engineer from Northern California: “Truly insane. Trump’s contempt for the value of human lives and culture apparently knows no bounds, as the threat to destroy an entire civilization is the latest escalation in his attacks on workers internationally and domestically. It is increasingly clear that the Democrats are unwilling to oppose these policies in a meaningful way, leaving it to the working class to defend itself against a system that only protects the interests of oligarchs. Our labor and blood pays for these wars, we must come together to stop this one and those that will follow.”

United States Postal Service worker: “Donald Trump’s threats against Iran are those of an evil dictator with no regard for human life, international law or common decency. To speak of ending the lives of over 90 million people is horrific, as is the unwillingness of both Democrats and Republicans to stop him. I stand in solidarity with the people of Iran, who are victims of the greed and corruption of American politicians and corporations. Donald Trump must be held accountable for his words and actions.”

Worker from Massachusetts: “[Trump] needs to be stopped, but with all the complicit parties in government, where do you start? He needs to be arrested. I don’t know why we the people are toying with all this dialog back and forth trying to reason with these people committing treason. Him and his entire cabinet are corrupt war criminals, and they all need to be arrested now, before they do something irreversible we will all regret.”

California higher education employee: “Trump is a madman enabled by the extremists in his circles and the capitalist system that is trying to avoid its inevitable demise. His threats to end the entire Iranian civilization reminds me of Trotsky’s line: ‘In the period of crisis the hegemony of the United States will operate more completely, more openly and more ruthlessly than in the period of boom.’

“If no imperialist administrations in the past [were] deserving of this quote, then the Trump administration certainly would be. If the threat is carried out, I can’t imagine what the consequences globally will be, nor would I want to imagine that. Perhaps, World War III. I don’t know, but the working class will suffer even worse than we already have unless we stop it.”

Student and member of the International Youth and Students for Social Equality (IYSSE): “Donald Trump’s ultimatums are criminal. With the illegal US-Israel war on Iran in its fourth week, there is not any indication of what the Trump administration won’t do to secure American hegemony. The United States’ actions, along with its accomplices promoting ‘freedom,’ have shown to unrelentingly pursue the interests of US imperialism, despite opposition from the working class and international law. Iranians’ freedom does not arrive with a regretful pre-1979 despotic government. It follows from a united and international working class struggle to abolish capitalism.”

Nexteer auto parts worker: “This is the first time I have heard an American president talk like this, bragging about how he will obliterate the people of Iran. The Iranian people haven’t done anything against us. The way I see it, they are workers just like us. I say, live and let live. We should work together. And I read that Trump is going to pay for this war by cutting Social Security, Medicare and daycare.

“Workers here at Nexteer are not represented by our union officials. They tell us it’s illegal to strike, even though we’re working without a contract. Pretty much everything Trump is doing is illegal, but we’re supposed give up our rights because people who don’t represent us are in power?”

Thomas Adams, retired auto worker and author of the study UAW Incorporated: The Triumph of Capital: “I saw Trump’s remarks about ending Iranian civilization. It is disturbing to see how silent people are right now, particularly the Congress.

“Trump is definitely losing his mind and flailing about. He’s extremely desperate.

“I have read about Hitler. The major urban corporations not only funded him, but they developed the furnaces that turned Jews and Eastern Europeans and Catholics into ashes.

“You can almost see Trump using the Hitler playbook. I mean, the constant lies are one thing but the ridiculously absurd pretenses to commit atrocities—bombing these speed boats, and saying they’re smuggling drugs. He never presented any evidence at all, either before or after. And now he’s gone into Iran.

“When World I started was pretty clear. World War II was a little more ambiguous. We may well be in World War III already. We may have crossed that threshold months ago.

“[Meanwhile, Trump is] cutting off SNAP benefits, cutting off healthcare or allowing healthcare subsidies to expire, putting ICE on the street, bursting into people’s homes and throwing people out of their cars. They are like his private Gestapo—used to beat people up, in some cases, shoot them.

“I believe that Trump is going to try and stop the elections, and he’s going to try and intimidate the voters. [But even] the people I know who are Republicans, they hate Trump.

“I spent the last six months reading the history of the Founding Fathers, of the origins of our country, the idea of democracy, the idea of the revolution was about ideas and right? We so lost, lost track of that, and that’s what’s so difficult for me.”

He added, “Trump can surround himself with billionaires, but this is not going to end well. You can’t keep the population down like this and expect to carry on. This is going to come to a head.”

Worker at General Motors’ Flint Truck Assembly: “I’m being notified before my eight-hour shift that Trump said, ‘a whole civilization will die tonight,’ and that millions of people, ‘an entire nation of people,’ may die before I my shift ends, makes me sick to my stomach.

“The Democratic Party and United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain have not made any statements opposing this extremely alarming situation. They haven’t proposed anything to stop this. This shows that the interests of the working class in Iran or here or anywhere is nothing to them. If they follow through with this massacre, who knows what will be next? They have murdered tens of thousands of the population of Gaza over a course of years and now threatening to end one nation in a matter of hours, days or weeks. This is genocide.

“I cannot imagine the how innocent people in Iran are feeling with maybe only hours left to live. The working class in the United States cannot just go about our regular lives. We must stop these war crimes. We hold all the power and make the profits for those ordering this annihilation. The elite only care about money. At the very least we should all be calling off work and stopping production. We should be hitting the street. I have much more in common with the people of Iran than I do with the president, of the UAW or of the United States.”