A Jewish social worker who called Pittsburgh home for 32 years spent most of Saturday sheltered behind a steel door and reinforced-concrete walls waiting for Iranian missiles to strike.
Carri Golden, who raised her two children in the city’s Greenfield neighborhood before emigrating to Israel during the pandemic, heard the sirens start tearing through the air in Rehovot, an Israeli suburb about 19 miles south of Tel Aviv, near 8 a.m. Saturday — about 1 a.m. in Pittsburgh.
An attack against Iran by U.S. and Israeli forces rattled the region and those living in it as President Donald Trump urged Iranians to rise up against Islamic leadership that has ruled the nation for nearly half a century.
The Associated Press reported about 4 p.m. that Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in Saturday’s attacks.
Iranian state media, citing the Red Crescent, on Saturday evening said at least 201 people had been killed and more than 700 injured.
The strikes occurred during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.
Iran countered Saturday’s attacks by launching hundreds of missiles into Israel and at U.S. military bases throughout the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi called the attacks “unprovoked, illegal and absolutely illegitimate.”
The Pittsburgh chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the attack on Iran, which it called “a reckless escalation that has already resulted in the reported deaths of civilians, including school-aged girls.”
“Launching a war during active negotiations and the holy month of Ramadan is unconstitutional, unnecessary and dangerous,” said Christine Mohamed, executive director of CAIR’s Pittsburgh chapter. “These actions place innocent lives at risk and further destabilize an already volatile region.”
The national CAIR has called on Congress to assert its constitutional authority, halt further military action and prioritize diplomacy over war. “The American people do not want another endless conflict driven by political pressure rather than the public interest,” Mohamed said.
Trump lauded the “major combat operations” and advised Iranian citizens to “take over your government” in a video posted online.
In Israel, schools preemptively closed Sunday, the beginning of the country’s five-day workweek. Israeli media told residents to anticipate shelter sirens through Monday. Airports responded by canceling flights.
Golden and her husband, Lee, a patent attorney who grew up in Morningside, waited like much of their adopted homeland in a mamad, or reinforced safe room, for the better part of 10 hours Saturday, which is the Jewish Sabbath.
The self-described “60-something” couple left their shelter only to quickly eat lunch and make Kiddush — or mark the end of Shabbat, the Sabbath — with a glass of wine.
“Not quite ‘just another day’ in Israel — but we’re safe,” Golden told TribLive via What’s App.
“Waiting for information, hoping for timely resolution,” she later texted. “Minimal to no losses (or) casualties.”
Congressional reaction
It remained unclear — both in Israel and the U.S. — where the conflict was headed next.
Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Butler, said Trump’s “decisive military action” this weekend reinforced the president’s “commitment to American security both at home and abroad.”
“Iran has proven time and time again it should not have nuclear weapons,” Kelly said. “The Iranian regime remains the world’s largest state sponsor of terror and has repeatedly targeted America and its allies for years.”
“The president has given the ayatollahs a chance for a deal — and they have rejected a path to peace and prosperity,” Sen. Dave McCormick, R-Squirrel Hill, added on the social-media platform X shortly before 10 a.m.
Many Democrats didn’t see it that way.
Rep. Summer Lee accused Trump of “risking the lives of American troops for the sake of another endless war.”
“From day one, Trump has shown us his corruption and desire for regime change in multiple countries that he has no business being in,” the Swissvale Democrat said. “This is an insanely unpopular, dangerous and illegal act of war. Congress must pass a War Powers Resolution immediately and hold this lawless president accountable.”
Rep. Chris Deluzio, a veteran of the Iraq War, which he called “a strategic disaster,” said his generation of veterans “knows something about the costs of regime change wars.”
“The American people have not authorized this war on Iran, Congress has not authorized this war on Iran, yet Donald Trump is sending other people’s kids to go fight,” he said in a video posted to social media. “This is a moment for the Congress to show up. We ought to get back to Washington, put a stop to this before precious American lives, our troops, might be lost, before the region is further destabilized.
“To every politician beating the drum to war, they should answer a simple question: How many Americans are you willing to see die in this war? If they can’t answer that question, they ought to shut up about it.”
Gov. Josh Shapiro, who some predict will launch a 2028 presidential run if he secures reelection this year in Pennsylvania, also blasted Trump’s move.
“The president has not adequately explained why this war is urgent now, what this military campaign may look like or what the strategic objective is,” Shapiro said.
Shapiro, however, also lobbed criticism at the Shiite Muslim clerics whose theocratic regime has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
“Iranians have died standing up for their freedoms against this cruel regime,” Shapiro said. “The people of Iran deserve a government that gives voice to these hopes, respects their rights and pursues their interests peacefully — not through violence or intimidation.”
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Braddock, has broken with the Democratic Party in the past over Israel. He did so again Saturday, voicing support for the attacks on social media.
“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” Fetterman wrote online.
‘We are used to this’
Adina Freud also spent much of Saturday hiding in a shelter with her five children, ages 3 to 13.
The family took turns lounging in a pair of beach chairs in the safe room. A neighbor lent them a mattress, where Freud’s 8-year-old son, who is sick with a cold, slept throughout the day.
But little felt out of the ordinary for the former Adina Pliner, who lived in Squirrel Hill from 1994 to 2002 and attended Hillel Academy before moving to Israel in 2019.
“It doesn’t really feel heavy — we kind of are used to this. We say, ‘It is what it is,’ ” said Freud, 40, a physician associate who, like Golden, lives in Rehovot. “There’s no fear in the air. We’ve done this ‘rodeo’ so many times.”