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On Feb. 4, activists demanding “No Sanctions, Assassinations, Interventions! No War Against Iran!” held emergency demonstrations in at least 70 U.S. cities and towns. There were actions from Huntsville, Ala., to Amarillo, Texas, and from Buffalo, NY to Racine, WI.
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Other cities held demonstrations in the days immediately preceding or following the national day of local protest against the devastating sanctions, covert operations, and threats of overt military action against the oil rich regional powerhouse of Iran. The U.S. demonstrations were echoed by actions in Vancouver, Canada; Shannon Air Base in Ireland; Dacca, the capital city of Bangladesh; Calcutta, India; and Oslo, Norway.
The emergency actions came together on short notice as the result of a national Jan. 17 phone conference that formed an ad hoc group to publicize the call. The organizations that initiated or endorsed the call included the United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC), the International Action Center (IAC), World Can’t Wait, Solidarity with Iran, Peace of the Action, ANSWER Coalition, American Iranian Friendship Committee, the Campaign Against Sanctions & Military Intervention in Iran (CASMI), WESPAC Foundation, Antiwar.com, Come Home America.us, St. Pete for Peace, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Defenders for Freedom, Justice, and Equality of Virginia, Peace Action Maine, Occupy Myrtle Beach, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, and the Twin Cities Peace Campaign.
Opposition to the growing U.S./UN/NATO and Israeli threats of direct and open military action against Iran will also be a central theme of the March 23-25 United National Antiwar Coalition Conference in Stamford, Conn. Iranian activists from the diaspora who hold many different political perspectives on Iranian politics but who all oppose intervention will lead at least three workshops and participate in plenary panels.
They include Mansoureh Tajik, an expert in sustainable development; Kazem Azim, a leader of the Taxi Workers Alliance and Solidarity Iran; Margaret Sarfehjooy of the Women Against Military Madness; and Manijeh Nasrabadi, a writer and member of the Raha Iranian Feminist Collective. For more information on the conference, visit www.unacpeace.org.
Jan. 16 statement by the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) on the assassination of Iranian scientist Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan and the growing threat of war against Iran:
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Another Iranian scientist has been assassinated in Iran by a car bombing. This is the fifth Iranian scientist targeted in Iran during the past two years. This is a dangerous escalation of the covert activities conducted by the CIA and Israeli intelligence and their domestic spies in Iran against the government and people of Iran.
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Secretary of State Hillary Clinton stated, “I want to categorically deny any United States involvement in any kind of act of violence inside Iran.” However, both the Israeli and the U.S. governments have admitted to covert activity in Iran. Irrespective of the actors, the assassination of law-abiding scientists living and working in Iran is a reprehensible act that should be condemned by all.
The fact is that the governments of the U.S. and Israel have declared Iran to be their enemy and have publicly stated that they will use all means possible, up to and including military attack, to stop the production of nuclear energy in Iran and to change the government of Iran. To this end, they have admitted to:
1) Using hacking to disrupt nuclear energy facilities in Iran.
2) Conducting covert operations in Iran.
3) Deploying spy drones to Iran.
4) Imposing draconian sanctions and embargo against Iranian oil exports, banking and trade.
5) Deploying U.S. nuclear super carrier battle groups with destroyers and nuclear submarines to the Persian Gulf.
6) Threatening Iran with military attack.
7) Planning to hold in January the largest-ever joint military exercises with Israel.
The assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists falls within the covert activities in disrupting nuclear energy production in Iran. In addition, it works to create an atmosphere of fear among other Iranian scientists who want to work in their field of study. This is similar to the right-wing assassinations of physicians in the U.S. who perform the procedure of abortion, which is legal in the U.S. The terrorists who kill scientists aim to make it difficult for the Iranian nuclear energy industry to find scientists who would work there. However, the people of Iran have repeatedly stated their resolve to defend their right to nuclear energy.
Considering that Hillary Clinton threatened Iran with military attack, it is disingenuous for her to state that the U.S. denies involvement in any act of violence within Iran. A military attack on Iran, especially an attack on Iran’s nuclear energy facilities, would produce results similar to a nuclear attack (U.S. Concerned Scientists report). It would be the most violent act against the people of Iran, resulting in hundreds of thousands of civilian deaths.
All the actions listed above, sanctioned by the U.S. government, are intended to weaken the Iranian government and economy, create an atmosphere of fear and dissatisfaction among the people, increase unrest, and decrease trust, all in the service of making it easier for a military attack on Iran. Of course, so far these actions have only strengthened the Iranian people’s resolve to protect their country against Imperialism. Similar U.S. actions are aimed at any government which fails to submit to the U.S. corporate domination. This disobedience or defiance by Iran is its real “crime.”
It is extremely important that all international and especially U.S. antiwar and progressive organizations condemn these acts of assassination of innocent citizens as well as all forms of violent and aggressive actions by U.S. and Israel.
1) Condemn the assassination of Iranian scientists.
2) End all sanctions against Iran.
3) End covert activities inside Iran.
4) End all war threats against Iran.
“No war, No Sanctions, No Internal Intervention in Iran!”
An earlier and more comprehensive statement by UNAC on the threat of war against Iran can be seen at www.unacpeace.org under “UNAC Statements.”
