The Congressional Progressive Caucus organized an “emergency convening” on Saturday evening for members to receive a briefing on Iran from the Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi and former Obama administration official Ben Rhodes, according to an invitation obtained by Jewish Insider.

CPC members have been largely unified in condemning the U.S. strikes on Iran.

Parsi, a cofounder of the National Iranian American Council, has long faced accusations of being overly cozy with and supportive of the Iranian regime, while Rhodes has come under scrutiny for his hostility toward Israel — a stance that earned him the nickname “Hamas” inside the Obama White House.

Throughout the first day of the war, Parsi was vociferous in condemning the attack, characterizing it as a U.S. operation in service of “Israel’s war” and condemning a variety of international actors, particularly in Europe, that he said have failed to respond forcefully enough and he claimed are acting as “vassals” of the U.S. and Israel.

He has further suggested that the public in Arab states are rallying around Iran, despite the forceful and united condemnation of Iran’s indiscriminate strikes across the region by all Gulf countries. 

Parsi also highlighted a strike on a girls’ school in Iran which killed dozens, according to Iranian media, though the source of the missile has not been determined. He claimed such incidents would make a civilian uprising in Iran less likely. 

Rhodes has also forcefully condemned the operation. “A war that has no domestic or international legal basis. A war that Americans do not support. A war in response to no imminent threat. A pointless war,” Rhodes said in response to the attack. “Trump and Netanyahu seem to be totally unconcerned about the human beings — on all sides — who will suffer.”