With this week marking the 15th anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, thousands of people from more than a dozen countries on Sunday will join foreign policy experts and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) in a live video call to discuss ongoing conflicts, soaring military tensions across the globe, and "how we can tip the balance toward peace."

"Trump is increasingly surrounding himself with foreign policy hawks who fully support his erratic and belligerent foreign policy."

—Trita Parsi, National Iranian American Council

"After months of personal insults, military deployments, escalating sanctions, and threats of nuclear war, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have suddenly agreed to an unprecedented direct meeting," the organizers of the call note in a statement. "This unexpected twist fills many of us with both hope and fear. Will Trump really use these historic talks to open up a true path to peace? Or will he use them to provide cover to justify an even more relentless rush to war?"



"One thing's certain: The stakes are far too high to sit back and wait for an answer," the statement concludes.

The time to stop a catastrophic war is before it starts. SUNDAY, March 18th, join the #CallForPeace: https://t.co/pfNqbGBgB9 pic.twitter.com/Lby3vplL1V — MoveOn.org (@MoveOn) March 17, 2018

Hosted by OPEN—a global network of grassroots progressive organizations spanning nearly 20 countries—the call comes as Trump is rapidly shifting his cabinet even further to the right, nominating the ultra-hawkish CIA director Mike Pompeo to succeed Rex Tillerson as Secretary of State and reportedly considering former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations as his next national security adviser.

"The firing of Tillerson and appointment of Pompeo furthers a dangerous trend in which Trump is increasingly surrounding himself with foreign policy hawks who fully support his erratic and belligerent foreign policy," Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, said in a statement last week.

The goal of Sunday's video conference is to push back against this belligerence and "elevate a global movement supporting viable, diplomatic initiatives that deliver strong and lasting peace."

RSVP for the "Global Call for Peace" here. The call begins at 2 pm ET/11 am PT/6 pm GMT.