STORY: Protesters gathered outside the White House to protest the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities, urging the Trump administration to stay out of the region.

"Iranians have their own corrupt rulers to deal with. They don't need our corrupt rulers dropping bombs on them," said Jamal Abdi of the National Iranian American Council, one of the speakers at the afternoon protest.

The operation pushes the Middle East to the brink of a major new conflagration in a region already aflame for more than 20 months with wars in Gaza and Lebanon and a toppled dictator in Syria.

"We're just terrified that this could become World War III. This could become a nuclear war," said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of anti-war group, Code Pink.

The Trump administration has repeatedly asserted that the strikes were intended to destroy Iran's nuclear capability and not a preamble to regime change.

With the damage visible from space after 30,000-pound U.S. bunker-buster bombs crashed into the mountain above Iran's Fordow nuclear site, experts and officials are closely watching how far the strikes might have set back Iran's nuclear ambitions.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

VIDEO SHOWS: PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE PROTESTING THE STRIKES ON IRAN'S NUCLEAR FACILITIES

SHOWS: WASHINGTON, D.C., UNITED STATES (JUNE 22, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. PROTESTERS CHANTING, " One, two, three, four - we don't want your racist war"/ ZOOM OUT TO PROTESTERS HOLDING UP A SIGN THAT READS "Remember Iraq, No more war based on lies"

2. PROTESTERS HOLDING UP SIGNS AND CHANTING "Hands off, Iran"

3. JAMAL ABDI, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL, APPROACHING STAGE TO SPEAK

4. (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMAL ABDI, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL IRANIAN AMERICAN COUNCIL, SAYING:

"Iranians have their own corrupt rulers to deal with. They don't need our corrupt rulers dropping bombs on them. And just as the Iranian people are not the same as the Iranian government, I hope the world knows that the American people are not the same as this government."

5. PROTESTER HOLDING SIGN BEARING THE IMAGE OF IRANIAN FLAG

6. (SOUNDBITE) (English) MEDEA BENJAMIN, CO-FOUNDER, CODE PINK, SAYING:

"We are outraged with the Trump attacks on Iran. It's unprovoked. Iran poses no threat to us. It's unconstitutional. He never went to Congress. It's against international law. And it's unnecessary because They were in negotiations. The negotiations would have worked. Of course, they did work when Obama signed the agreement and Trump pulled us out of it. But there is no reason to have this war. And plus, we're just terrified that this could become World War III. This could become a nuclear war."

7. PROTESTERS CHANTING, " One, two, three, four - we don't want your racist war"

8. PROTESTERS CHANTING, "Not a penny, not a dollar. No more money for U.S. slaughter."

9. PROTESTERS CHANTING, "G.I. Joe, go back home, the Middle East is ours alone"

10. WIDE OF PROTEST