New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has sharply criticised the economic and human cost of the ongoing Iran conflict, arguing that massive war spending is undermining investment in essential public services.
In a special episode of Talk To Al Jazeera, Mamdani said the US government is capable of spending as much as $900 million a day on the war, even as working families are told that investments in healthcare, housing and education are unrealistic.
“We are speaking about a war that has killed thousands of civilians. We are spending tens of billions of dollars to kill people. Money that could be making life easier for working people,” he said.
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Mamdani framed the issue as both economic and moral, highlighting what he described as a broader societal impact.
“At the heart of any war is dehumanization. And dehumanization never stays confined to the war. When you normalize killing abroad, you normalize cruelty at home,” he said.
He pointed to a recent incident involving a young Muslim woman who was attacked on a subway platform, claiming the assailant referenced civilian deaths in Iran.
“This is the dehumanization we are allowing to spread in our country,” Mamdani added.
The mayor also underscored growing domestic opposition to the conflict.
“There is deep opposition to this war… not merely procedural or political—it is, frankly, moral,” he said, adding that the war is “deeply unpopular” due to both its human toll and financial burden.
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Questioning fiscal priorities, Mamdani said: “The very issues I often speak about… are dismissed as impossible or unrealistic. Yet, they would cost only a fraction of the tens of billions being spent on this war.”
Responding to a question on whether the scale of daily war expenditure is frustrating, he said: “It should frustrate all of us.”
Echoing a sentiment popularised by Tupac Shakur, Mamdani added: “We always seem to have money for war, but not to feed the poor.”
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