This week more than 500 Vermont Army National Guard soldiers are scheduled to deploy to the Middle East — into a region where the United States is actively at war with Iran. A war that the majority of Americans oppose. A war that Congress never voted to authorize.

The mission was planned a year and a half ago, but military leaders have already admitted the situation on the ground has changed. Vermont's own Adjutant General said the operational environment has shifted. Sources confirm these soldiers could be called to support the Iran war effort at any time — regardless of what the mission was originally called.

Vermont already has 200 Air National Guard members fighting in the Iran war and 200 more deployed to Germany. This deployment would bring the total to nearly 1,000 Vermont Guard members overseas. That is an extraordinary cost for a small state to bear in a war most Americans never wanted.

What this moment calls for is not more troops. It is a ceasefire. Diplomatic solutions exist. The path to protecting American lives — and Iranian lives, and Lebanese lives — runs through negotiation, not escalation. Sending 500 more Guard members into an active war zone does not make anyone safer. It deepens a conflict the American people have already said they do not support.

We're calling on Vermont's congressional delegation and the Pentagon to halt this deployment and push for an immediate ceasefire in the Iran war.