Jeff Merkley

Two Oregon Democrats in Congress plus visiting U.S. Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey called Tuesday for President Donald Trump to stand down from his threat to massively bomb Iranian civilian infrastructure.

In a somber 25-minute press event in downtown Portland, U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley and U.S. Rep. Maxine Dexter stood with Booker as the trio decried the violations of American and international principles of human rights and the deaths of millions of Iranian women and children that would likely result if the president follows through.

Trump “said he is going to bomb Iran back into the Stone Age. And he said this morning, ‘A whole civilization will die tonight,’” Merkley said. “These are apocalyptic worlds about attacking the civilian infrastructure and the civilians of another nation. It is 1,000% out of sync with the principles of our nation and international principles.”

All three members of Congress called for House and Senate leaders to call them back into session to debate a war powers resolution. Under the 1973 War Powers Act, a U.S. president has limited power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of Congress.

They also called on Republican colleagues and donors to privately speak to Trump administration contacts to urge the president to take a pause, noting the war is unpopular with Americans broadly, not just with Democrats.

But they also said they cannot predict what the president will do and felt the need to speak strongly and publicly about what Dexter called “catastrophic violence.”

Citing its key role in allowing oil supplies to move about the globe, Trump had said Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz by 5 p.m. Pacific Time or face destruction. Roughly an hour before that deadline, however, he pulled back on the threat and called for a two-week cease fire.

Dexter said opposing the strategy of mass bombing of civilian infrastructure “is not about party.” She said it is about “the lives of Iranian civilians, children, families, ordinary people who have nothing to do with their government’s nuclear program. These are not bargaining chips. They are not collateral damage. They are human beings. ... I am here because we are standing on the edge of a crisis that could define this generation.”

“Trump must stand down and pursue diplomatic solutions,” she said.

Booker, who said he was in Oregon on Tuesday as part of a multistate book tour and other appearances that would appear to resemble an exploration of a presidential bid, said the war has already proved “disastrous” for Americans, given its high costs, the deaths of 13 U.S. service members and its driving up of gas prices, among other effects.

“Our president is talking about eliminating 90 million human beings and setting their nation back into a humanitarian crisis like we have never seen before,” Booker said. He said the president “is acting more like a mad king” and asserted “This is a moral moment, and we must reject it.”

Oregon’s other U.S. senator, Democrat Ron Wyden, was not at the Portland event. But hours before it was held, he took to social media to voice similar sentiments.