Statement: Independent Iranian organizations against war and militarist policies

First published on Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company Telegram channel

Given the current unstable and dangerous situation in Iran and the region, the undersigned organizations believe it is their duty to take a collective stand.

The workers of Iran — including laborers, teachers, nurses, pensioners, and other wage earners — have never benefited, do not benefit, and will not benefit from war, militarization, the bombing of the country, or policies of domination and exploitation.

The military attacks by Israel and the bombing of hundreds of targets across various regions of Iran — including infrastructure, workplaces, refineries, and residential areas — are part of a war-mongering project, the cost of which is borne by ordinary people, especially workers, through their lives, livelihoods, and well-being.

Israel’s claim that it harbors no hostility toward the Iranian people is nothing but a lie and political propaganda. Just yesterday, Israel’s defense minister threatened to “burn Tehran.” Repeated threats by Trump and other U.S. officials, along with full support from Western governments for these actions, have only fueled tension, insecurity, and destruction in the region.

The governments of Israel and the United States are among the main perpetrators of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and many other crimes in the region and the world. The United Nations and international institutions that hypocritically posture as peace-seekers but in practice remain silent in the face of these crimes are part of the same structure of domination. The global capitalist system — its profit-driven logic and imperialist powers — is one of the main causes of war, human catastrophe, and environmental destruction.

The Iranian working class not only gains nothing from war — it is one of its primary victims. The continuation of economic sanctions, the allocation of massive budgets to military purposes, and the restriction of freedoms will only lead to deeper poverty, intensified repression, hunger, death, and the displacement of millions.

We, the independent workers and popular activists in Iran, have no illusions that the U.S. or Israel seeks to bring us freedom, equality, and justice — just as we have no illusions about the repressive, interventionist, adventurist, and anti-worker nature of the Islamic Republic.

We, the workers and toilers of Iran, have paid a heavy price over many years in our struggle for basic rights and minimal living conditions: imprisonment, torture, execution, dismissal, threats, and beatings. We remain deprived of the right to organize, assemble, and express ourselves freely. Workers and the broader working population are justly angry and disgusted with the ruling regime of the Islamic Republic and the capitalists who, for more than four decades, have amassed enormous wealth at the expense of our disenfranchisement and constant insecurity. All officials and institutions involved in the repression and killing of workers, women, youth, and oppressed peoples of Iran must be held accountable and punished by the people.

Our struggle is a social and class struggle. It will continue, relying on our own strength, as a continuation of the recent movements for "Bread, Work, Freedom" and "Woman, Life, Freedom," and in coordination with international solidarity from the global working class and humanist, freedom-loving, and egalitarian forces.

The continuation of the current war will only bring further destruction, irreversible damage to the environment, and new human catastrophes. The working class and the impoverished sectors of Iranian society, like the oppressed in other countries of the region, are the main victims of this situation.

We, the undersigned organizations, call on all trade unions, human rights organizations, anti-war groups, environmental activists, and peace advocates around the world to demand an immediate end to the war, bombings, the killing of innocent people, and the destruction of nature. Support the struggles of the peoples of Iran and the region to end genocide, militarism, and repression.

The peoples of the Middle East need an end to the devastating conflicts between regional and global powers, and the establishment of a lasting peace — a peace in which people can determine their own destinies through self-organization, mass movements, and broad popular participation.

No to war — no to militarist policies.

 An immediate ceasefire is our urgent demand.

Signatory Organizations:

• Syndicate of Workers of Tehran and Suburbs Bus Company
• Syndicate of Workers of the Haft Tappeh Sugarcane Company
• Retired Workers of Khuzestan
• Pensioners’ Alliance
• Coordinating Committee to Help Form Workers’ Organizations
• Retirees’ Unity Group