In the stillness of night, just moments before President Donald Trump revealed that the United States and Israel had initiated a strike on Iran, a coalition of U.S. nonprofits with ties to China, Russia, and Tehran mobilized their activists to take to the streets across America.
These organizations, financed by Neville Roy Singham, an American-born entrepreneur now based in Shanghai, swiftly echoed narratives often aligned with America’s rivals. As the first strikes began, their rapid response marked another chapter in the ongoing information conflict against the U.S., rallying supporters to demonstrate and vocalize anti-American sentiments.
At precisely 2:34 a.m. ET, the ANSWER Coalition, a nonprofit led by self-proclaimed Marxists and communists, issued a call to action: “EMERGENCY NATIONWIDE DAY OF ACTION TODAY, SAT. FEB 28 — STOP THE WAR WITH IRAN!”
Map illustrating U.S. strikes on Iran. (Fox News)
The coalition announced its affiliation with organizations historically supportive of the Iranian regime, such as the National Iranian American Council, American Muslims for Palestine, the People’s Forum, Palestinian Youth Movement, and CodePink. Requests for comment from these groups went unanswered, as did inquiries directed at Singham.
Setting the tone for their opposition, the network labeled the conflict as an “unprovoked, illegal bombing of Iran” and coordinated their efforts through a dedicated website: http://ANSWERCoalition.org.
Ten minutes later, at 2:44 a.m., Trump posted a video, confirming the attack on Iran, telling the world: “A short time ago, the United States military began major combat operations in Iran.
Eight minutes later, at 2:52 a.m., the People’s Forum — a New York-based activist hub funded by Singham as an “incubator” for socialist groups — issued an “emergency” call to action for a protest in Times Square.
“🚨 EMERGENCY DAY OF ACTION IN NYC TO STOP THE WAR WITH IRAN: TODAY, 2/28 at 2PM in Times Square,” the People’s Forum announced.
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The ANSWER Coalition runs operations out of the People’s Forum headquarters in midtown Manhattan. The People’s Forum statement mirrored the messaging in a new video released overnight before the attacks by the Chinese Communist Party, framing the U.S. as an imperial and colonial power. The People’s Forum said:
“This war serves no one but a tiny elite and oil executives and is a continuation of more than two years of genocide in Palestine and US-Israeli aggressions throughout the region,” The People’s Forum said in a statement.
The same network has mobilized rapidly in past high-profile national security incidents. It previously rallied in support of Nicolás Maduro after U.S. authorities arrested him and his wife, Sylvia Flores, on Jan. 3 for alleged involvement in narcoterrorism.
Earlier this month, when the State Department sent a report to the U.S. Congress raising concerns about this network, it stated, “Organizations like Code Pink and the People’s Forum denigrate the United States, whitewash the violence of Marxist regimes, and run cover for narco-terrorists like Maduro while enjoying an influx of cash from a donor network with connections to the Chinese Communist Party.”
A person holds an image of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as Iranian demonstrators protest against the U.S.-Israeli strikes, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 28, 2026. (Majid Asgaripour/WANA (West Asia News Agency) via Reuters)
Last summer, the same coalition — including the People’s Forum, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the ANSWER Coalition and CodePink — rallied outside the White House under the banner “Hands Off Iran.” That protest was coordinated alongside the National Iranian American Council and amplified by BreakThrough News, which broadcast images of children holding anti-war signs at the White House fence.
Through the night of the joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran, field marshals immediately readied printed signage, standardized messaging and coordinated media amplification, according to people familiar with the organizations. They linked anti-Israel activism, anti-ICE protests and anti-Trump messaging into a single narrative framework opposing what organizers call the U.S. “empire.” Their messages aligned with the messages of pro-regime protests in Iran.
By 4:31 a.m., BreakThrough News, a project of BreakThrough BT Media, a nonprofit funded by Singham, promoted the day of “emergency” protests as “BREAKING” news. It shares the same address as the People’s Forum, and its editor-in-chief, Ben Becker, is the son of Brian Becker, a co-founder of the ANSWER Coalition.
Members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the ANSWER Coalition arrive minutes before the start of a protest to support the regime running the Islamic Republic of Iran. (Asra Nomani/Fox News Digital)
At 7:19 a.m., BreakThrough News circulated a video of an alleged U.S. strike on a school, which the network’s organizations repeated and amplified to portray the U.S. as an unbridled aggressor. The U.S. hasn’t commented yet on that alleged strike.
By 9:09 am., China’s Foreign Ministry called for an end to the strikes, its language aligning with the rhetoric of the U.S. protest infrastructure, calling for the defense of Iran’s “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity.”
By then, as many Americans were just awakening to the news, the protest infrastructure was fully engaged with social media graphics circulating, local chapters alerted and Times Square positioned once again as a stage for the rapid mobilization of foot soldiers who would have their images broadcast around the world with the predictable language of Americans mobilizing a “grassroots” campaign against the U.S. war on Iran.
At 11 a.m., the protests had spread to 16 hubs for the ANSWER Coalition and the Party for Socialism and Liberation: Chicago; Washington, D.C.; Akron, Cincinnati and Cleveland in Ohio; Asheville and Charlotte in North Carolina; Boston, Burlington, Vt.; San Diego, San Francisco, Sacramento, Davis and Los Angeles in California, Providence, R.I; Tucson, Ariz. and Eugene, Ore.
A network of pro-regime organizations in Chicago released their own press release, parroting the messaging against “the U.S. empire.”
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