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A coalition of more than a dozen organizations rallied in Philadelphia on Saturday against U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran war.

Protesters called for de-escalation and a ceasefire in the war that began June 13 when Israel bombed Iranian military and nuclear sites. Iran responded with its own missile strikes.

Parham Parsa, 27, grew up in Tehran and moved to Philadelphia when he was 17. He said Iran’s Islamic regime has oppressed the Iranian people for decades. But Israel’s attacks have spread beyond military leaders, and civilians in Tehran are now fleeing the violence. The city of 9 million, Parsa said, has emptied out.

“The first couple of days, people were like, ‘Oh, it’s just targeted attacks,’” he said. “But at this point after two weeks of bombardment, people are scared. People are leaving Tehran, and it’s just really messed up.”

Parsa said most of his family lives in Tehran, and has had to evacuate. The child of his aunt’s neighbor was killed in one of the bombings.

“We’re looking back at history, we know that freedom of our people are not going to ride the coattails of Israeli bombs,” he said.

So far the attacks on Iran have killed 657 people, more than 200 of whom were civilians, and wounded more than 2,000. In Israel, at least 24 people have been killed, and hundreds injured.

President Donald Trump said he is weighing U.S. intervention by bombing Iran’s most secure nuclear site, and will decide within the next two weeks.

Rallygoers said they want the United States to refrain from entering the conflict.

“War doesn’t bring democracy. War risks further aggression,” said David Gibson, staff co-coordinator of Peace, Justice, Sustainability NOW and a member of the organizing committee for Saturday’s protest. “It doesn’t help the people of the region and the U.S. shouldn’t be getting dragged into it.”

Gibson said protesters are calling on the U.S. Congress, specifically Pennsylvania’s Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick, to pass the bipartisan War Powers Resolution, which would prevent the U.S. from entering a war without a vote from Congress. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna of California have introduced similar legislation in the House.

“We just saw millions of people in the streets saying that this country shouldn’t be run by kings,” he said. “This president, who wants to be a king, shouldn’t be deciding if we get involved in a war between Iran and Israel. That’s not what we should be doing.”

State Sen. Nikil Saval spoke at the rally against U.S. involvement in the war. 

“We are here to say no more with Iran, and we know that our views align with a vast majority of people, across party lines, across demographics, across this country,” he said. 

Alex Brunson, a West Philadelphia resident, said he doesn’t want to see the United States get involved in the conflict. 

“Trump should not do anything, because I know if he does anything, it’s gonna mess it up,” he said. “It’s gonna flare it up. It’s kind of like … putting salt on a wound, it’s just going to get worse. Because if he decides to take any military action against Iran, Iran is going to get mad and take that out on the U.S., as well as Israel.”

A protester on Saturday carried the Iranian flag with the words “Women, life, freedom,” the slogan adopted by many Iranians in the mass movement against the regime following the death of Mahsa Amini in 2022 after her arrest by Iran’s morality police.

Parsa said that he and many other Iranian and Iranian-Americans are “not naive,” and don’t believe that regime change will come from Israel’s war on the country.

“We just want a stop to the war, but we also want people to know that there is a rhetoric at the left right now, that Islamic Republic is somehow the Axis of Resistance, but people forget that they’re also killing their populace,” he said. “They’re killing their own people. So we just want to bring awareness that Islamic Republic is not good, Israel is not good, and those two facts can … coexist, and they just have to understand that.”

Parsa said he and other volunteers with Philly Iranians are hosting a “hamdeli,” a Farsi word which means “shared heart,” as a gathering for emotional support for the Iranian diasporic community in Philadelphia’s Washington Square Park.

“I just want people to know that Iranian people are kind,” Parsa said. “I think we can move past this regime and these times, as long as people actually see us as what we are, as these kind loving people that we are.”