In a statement, the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran highlights the danger of a military conflict with Iran is mounting and calls the peace-loving forces to mobilize against such a scenario.
Dear compatriots,
With the appointment of Mike Pompeo, the former director of the CIA, as the United States Secretary of State and John Bolton as the National Security Advisor of the Trump administration - both of them from the neo-con faction and radical warmongers in the United States - and then Mike Pompeo’s recent trip to the Middle East and his meetings with the Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Prime Minister of Israel, the tensions between the United States, Israel and Saudi Arabia on the one hand, and the Islamic Republic of Iran on the other have taken extremely dangerous dimensions.
On Monday 30 April, following Mike Pompeo’s visit to Israel, the world media reported an extensive Israeli missile attack on a number of Syrian airbases and military bases of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) of Iran in Syria, in which several Iranian military personnel were killed. According to the Aftab News [in Iran]; local sources as well as human rights and peace activists have claimed that 18 Iranian military personnel were killed and several injured, including a commander and chief of the “Hayyan Talal Mohammed” headquarters located in Nahr el-Bared village and Salhab subdistrict of Hama when the missiles hit this centre. Also, according the Syrian Human Rights Watch, powerful explosions shook the suburbs of Ahhamwy and Aleppo province which were the result of missile attacks on 47 Brigade located in the southern district of Hama and other regions near Salhab subdistrict. The Syrian newspaper Tishreen, the official newspaper of the country, quoted from the field sources: “The recent attack on the headquarters in Aleppo and Hama provinces started from the British and American bases in northern Jordan, and nine ballistic missiles were fired in the attack.”
Following these provocative strikes, Benyamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of the anti-people Israeli regime, in a televised broadcast from the Ministry of Defence headquarters, claimed that Iran has lied to the international institutions and has continued its nuclear program. He made these claims knowing well that the Trump administration is scheduled to announce its decision on whether to continue with the JCPOA or walk away from it. All the evidence indicates that despite the appeals of France, Germany and the UK to adhere to the JCPOA (while continuing attempts to change some of its critical content against Iran’s interests), the Trump administration is determined - based on its agreements with Israel and Saudi Arabia - to announce its withdrawal from the JCPOA. Following the claims of the Israeli Prime Minister regarding their access to several documents indicating Iran’s violation of its international obligations with regards to nuclear activities, Pompeo stated “I think the files make very clear that, at the very least, the Iranian regime has continued to lie to their own people”. Regarding the reaction of US administration to Israel’s claims, the US Secretary of State said that the administration would “leave that to lawyers” and added that “ultimately it would be the President who has to verify this and make a decision about the matter”.
It is important to note that after these remarks by Pompeo, the governments of Britain, France, and Germany again emphasised that they are committed to their obligations within the framework of the JCPOA. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) stated on Tuesday 1 May that it has no evidence of Iran’s attempt to achieve nuclear weapons capability in recent years. Also, according to ISNA (Iranian Students News Agency), the EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday, in Cairo, that “the JCPOA is not based on assumptions of good faith or trust; it is based on concrete commitments, verification mechanisms and a very strict monitoring of facts, done by the IAEA”. She added: “It is the IAEA that need to assess the details of the statement Prime Minister [of Israel, Benjamin] Netanyahu has made, and first and foremost get the IAEA's assessment, because the IAEA is the only impartial, international organisation that is in charge of monitoring continued Iran's nuclear commitments”.
In analysing the current developments in the Trump administration and the coordination - more than ever before - of the governments of Israel and Saudi Arabia with that administration, many of the world news agencies have commented that the risk of a military conflict between Israel and Iran is now higher than ever. Amos Yadlin, the former Israeli military intelligence chief was quoted by the Guardian that “The chances of an escalation into a full-scale military conflict in Syria are higher than ever before. No doubt Iran is planning about the need, from their side, to respond. We’ll have to wait.”
In response to Netanyahu’s claims and Israel’s provocative actions, Amir Hatami, the Iranian regime’s Defence Minister, said: “I warn the Quds occupying regime and its supporters to stop their dangerous behaviours and plots because Iran’s response will be surprising and remorseful [for them].”
Dear compatriots,
Our country and the Persian Gulf region and the Middle East is once again faced with a very serious and urgent threat of catastrophic military conflicts which will have dire consequences for Iran and the entire region. Ignoring these threats and supporting the destructive and interfering policies of the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia, contrary to the claims of some of the foreign-allied, anti-people, so-called opposition not only will notlead to the liberation of Iran from the claws of the current theocratic regime but, like the imperialism-inflicted war of Iraq with Iran [1980- 1988], will have very damaging consequences for our nation, and for the popular movement for freedom, sovereignty, and social justice. In the current sensitive and critical situation, all the patriotic and peace-loving forces of Iran and the world must be mobilised to bar the warmongering and reactionary forces in the region and Iran from once again creating another catastrophe. The provocative remarks of the likes of Hatami and other figures of the Iranian theocratic regime serve only to assist the aggressive policies of the belligerent forces.
The struggle of the Iranian people to dispose of the theocratic rule and establish a national and democratic regime in Iran in order to secure freedom, democracy, independence and social justice is not achievable through the destructive military intervention of such reactionary forces as the Trump, Netanyahu and Bin Salman administrations. In such critical times, the most important task of all the national and democratic forces is to organise and mobilise all peace-seeking forces of the nation and the world to prevent another disastrous and destructive war in our region.
The Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran
1 May 2018.