No war, no sanctions, no intervention in Iran!

Statement by the Stop the War Coalition (Sydney, Australia)

February 14, 2012 -- The Stop the War Coalition opposes the use of sanctions or military action against Iran by the United States or Israel. These are clear violations of international law.

We oppose all nuclear proliferation.

We oppose Australian support for intervention against Iran.

Despite the lies of the United States and Israel, Iran does not possess a nuclear weapons’ capacity.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which regularly monitors Iran’s nuclear installations, has found no evidence that Iran is preparing to construct any nuclear weapons. However Iran, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, has the legal right to develop nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes.

Even the US has admitted that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon. US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said in January that Iran was not trying to create a nuclear weapon.

It is however well known that the US and Israel maintain vast stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The US possesses more than 10,000 nuclear bombs and is the only country to have ever used nuclear weapons against civilian populations. Israel refuses to acknowledge its nuclear arsenal and refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Unlike the US and Israel, Iran has never started a war of aggression against any other country.

The Iranian regime’s harsh human rights record does not justify Western interference under the guise of “humanitarian intervention”. Both Israel and the US are guilty of the most egregious violations of human rights. Australia has its own sorry record of Indigenous oppression.

The suffering of the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Libya increased after US-NATO invasions and occupations. These countries have been devastated by the West’s bombing campaigns, and millions have died and been displaced.

The West’s aggression against Iran is focused on oil embargoes, economic sanctions and the isolation of its central bank. These measures – purportedly aimed at the regime –  impoverish the Iranian people. Western sanctions against Iraq led to the deaths of 1 million people, including 500,000 children under the age of five years old.

The Australian government’s decision to sell uranium to nuclea- armed India makes it complicit in the ramping up of tension in the Indian subcontinent. Its continued support for, and participation in, the US-NATO war in Afghanistan has dragged this country into the longest running war ever.

In advocating sanctions against Iran, the Australian Labor government is complicit in the ramping up of military preparations against Iran. The Australian government’s pretence of supporting the Iranian people’s fight for freedom is shown up by its continued imprisonment and deportation of Iranian asylum seekers.

The Stop the War Coalition supports the Iranian peoples’ struggle for democratic rights. We support the movements for self-determination – the “Arab Spring” movements – which have successfully toppled dictators in Tunisia and Egypt.

Neither Israel nor the US has the legal or moral right to wage war on Iran, or any other country.

Any attack on Iran would have catastrophic consequences for the Iranian people, for the region and, ultimately, the whole world.

Stop the War Coalition calls on the Australian government to refuse to take part in aggression – including sanctions – against Iran.

It also calls on the Australian government to remove itself from its war alliance with the US. Australia must not take part in another war in the Middle East.

Finally, the Stop the War Coalition repeats its call for Australian troops to be immediately removed from Afghanistan.

Click here to see a PressTV report of a Washington protest against US-Israeli intervention in Iran on February 4. It was part of a US national day of action.