Former New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman have criticized Zohran Mamdani's response to US and Israel's airstrikes on Iran, calling it "illegal" and ignoring the brutal Islamist regime's long reign of terror. Adams cited Iran's history of funding and arming terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas, advancing nuclear and long-range missile capabilities, and killing thousands of peaceful protesters. Maddani called the strikes an "illegal war of aggression" and stated that Americans did not want another war in pursuit of regime change.