Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Threatening Iran Is Wrong

Ross Pourzal | 01.05.2010 21:39 | Anti-militarism | Anti-racism | Social Struggles | World

The antiwar movement everywhere should be extremely alarmed about the Obama Administration’s declaration in April that Washington can target Iran with nuclear weapons. Although vague “all options are on the table” warnings were also issued under George W. Bush, now the threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran is enshrined in the revised Nuclear Posture Review of the United States.
››read more





Threatening Iran Is Wrong


Joint Statement by

* Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran

* Tehran Peace Museum

* Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (Tehran)


The antiwar movement everywhere should be extremely alarmed about the Obama Administration’s declaration in April that Washington can target Iran with nuclear weapons. Although vague “all options are on the table” warnings were also issued under George W. Bush, now the threat of a pre-emptive nuclear strike on Iran is enshrined in the revised Nuclear Posture Review of the United States.

The new official policy specifies that the U.S. is entitled to drop nuclear bombs on a nation that has no such weapons, if the adversary is deemed to be in violation of non-proliferation rules. Administration officials, including Defense Secretary Gates, have made clear that the intended victim is none other than Iran. Coming from a president who promised “change” in Washington, this is especially disturbing.

Threatening the Islamic Republic with nuclear attack is irresponsible and outrageous, not to mention illegal, even if the purpose is only to make a conventional war on Iran seem acceptable. Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeated unequivocally in a message to the International Conference on Disarmament in Tehran last month that the construction, possession, or use of weapons of mass destruction, and nuclear arms in particular, is forbidden in Islam. This is a stronger pledge than Iran’s accusers have been willing to make to prevent nuclear insanity.

If discouraging the spread of weapons of mass destruction is Washington’s true goal, intimidating a nation that does not have nuclear weapons with a nuclear threat defies logic. It sends a message to non-nuclear states that they must develop atomic weapons for their own safety.

Iran has not launched war on another country in more than two centuries, and years of UN inspections have found no diversion of nuclear material to military purposes there. Countless Iranian families still bear the scars of barbaric chemical attacks by Saddam’s Iraq in the 1980s, attacks that were actively shielded from world condemnation by the Reagan Administration. We remind everyone that, even in a period of national desperation like that, the Iran’s religious leadership ruled against retaliation with chemical or other non-conventional weapons.

Iranians of every political persuasion do not want another war, least of all war with the United States.

All sides in the current power struggle in Iran want normalization of relations with dignity, not confrontation. Despite the burden of historic grievances on both sides, war is not inevitable. But we fear that, as in Iraq, the escalating sanctions and threats against Iran can easily pave the way to a disastrous military confrontation. Only U.S. adventurism is more worrisome in Iran’s case, because the Western antiwar movement is in disarray now. Distracted by the new U.S.-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty, few people of conscience are paying enough attention to the nuclear blackmailing of Iran.

Before Barack Obama took office, the United States gained nothing from provoking Iran with the “axis of evil” insult or pretending to rid Iraq of banned weapons. We believe continuing on that path, whether it is for non-proliferation or for control of oil, is counterproductive. In the interest of both the U.S. and Iran, and the world, it is time for tension reduction in the Persian Gulf.

Peace seekers in Iran and the region were heartened by Obama’s campaign promises of “change,” because they knew threat perception in Washington was exaggerated under his predecessor. But a clash of civilizations mindset still seems pervasive in U.S. foreign policy, most evidently in fruitless efforts to isolate and intimidate Iran. The United States is still funding covert programs to destabilize that country, and now comes Washington’s threat of a pre-emptive nuclear attack.

We hope the Administration can be persuaded to try a different approach. At the Nuclear Non-Proliferation review conference in New York this month, Washington has an opportunity to support Iran’s long-standing call to designate the Middle East a nuclear weapons-free zone.

We urge peace lovers everywhere to pressure the U.S. and its allies to initiate genuine dialog with Iran. This is consistently recommended by Brazil, China, Russia, and the 118 member states of the Non-Aligned Movement that feel Iran’s nuclear file is unnecessarily politicized.

We believe U.S. interests are not served, and Americans are not made safer, by unreasonable, all-or-nothing demands on Iran. Let’s stop wasting opportunities to engage Tehran constructively. To begin with, and in the name of international law, we ask that the Obama Administration withdraw the threat of nuclear attack on Iran.

Ross Pourzal
- e-mail: pourza@gmail.com
- Homepage: http://www.campaigniran.org/casmii/index.php?q=node/9918

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech