A California Democrat running for state office is facing scrutiny after past calls to “defund the Pentagon” resurfaced, even as her husband works for a defense contractor that manufactures weapons reportedly used in recent U.S. strikes against the Iranian regime.
Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, a candidate for California’s 65th Assembly District, previously advocated for global demilitarization and cuts to Pentagon funding.
Her husband, Fazlul Zubair, is an engineering manager at Raytheon, which rebranded as RTX Corporation in 2023, according to a report from the New York Post.
Raytheon is a major U.S. defense contractor that produces advanced missile systems.
The United States and Israel launched a joint military operation against Iran’s brutal dictatorship over the weekend.
The strikes are aimed at preventing the regime from advancing its nuclear weapons capability.
President Donald Trump confirmed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the operation.
When asked by The Post to respond to the apparent contradiction between her policy positions and her husband’s employment, Iqbal-Zubair declined to elaborate.
“I have no comment,” she said.
Calls to ‘Defund the Pentagon’
According to the report, since-deleted social media posts from 2022 show Iqbal-Zubair allegedly calling for governments to “demilitarize our entire world” and demanding that the United States should “defund the Pentagon.”
The resurfaced posts come as American defense assets play a central role in Operation Epic Fury, the ongoing campaign targeting Iran’s missile infrastructure and military leadership.
In February 2025, The New Arab reported that Iqbal-Zubair, a Muslim immigrant, argued Democrats lost in 2024 because they failed to connect with working-class voters and wavered on foreign policy issues.
“I launched my race because frankly, I’m disappointed by how the Democrats messaged in the last election,” she told the outlet.
“They didn’t campaign to the working class.
“They wavered on Palestine.”
The article included a photograph of Iqbal-Zubair alongside radical Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), a member of the progressive “Squad.”
Alignment with Progressive Opposition to Iran Strikes
Following the U.S.-Israel operation against Iran, Rep. Omar criticized President Trump’s decision.
On Saturday, Omar claimed Trump was “dragging this nation into an illegal and unjustified war with Iran without congressional authorization, without a clear objective, and without any imminent threat to the United States.”
Iqbal-Zubair amplified similar criticism.
On Saturday, she reposted a video of Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) stating:
“Trump has launched an illegal regime change war in Iran with American lives at risk.”
The New York Post also reported that Iqbal-Zubair backs several progressive policy initiatives aligned with the Democratic Party’s far-left flank.
Political Optics in a National Security Moment
The juxtaposition of calls to defund the Pentagon and a household connection to a leading defense contractor has drawn attention at a time when national security is front and center.
As U.S. forces continue targeting Iranian military infrastructure, defense contractors, including RTX, remain central to America’s missile and air superiority capabilities.
RTX saw its stock price spike nearly 5% on Monday, according to Barron’s.
The company’s $88.6 billion in sales in 2025 represents about a 10% growth from the prior year.
Iqbal-Zubair has not issued further comment clarifying her stance on defense spending in light of the ongoing operation.
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