New Delhi, June 22: Left parties on Sunday strongly condemned the US strikes on nuclear sites in Iran and said the move was a grave violation of Iranian sovereignty and the UN Charter.
In a statement issued here, the Left parties said the US action will inflame global tensions, destabilise West Asia and have severe economic repercussions.
“The undersigned five Left parties strongly condemn the United States’ bombing of Iran. This is a grave violation of Iranian sovereignty and the UN Charter, and it will inflame global tensions, destabilise West Asia and have severe economic repercussions,” they said in the statement.
The statement was jointly issued by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Revolutionary Socialist Party and Forward Bloc.
The five Left parties said the US and Israel are justifying their attacks by claiming that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon, however, it is important to note that the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on June 19 that they did not have any proof of a systematic effort on Iran’s part to develop a nuclear weapon.
“Even US intelligence agencies acknowledged that they did not possess conclusive evidence indicating that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon. Furthermore, Iran remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT),” they said.
The Left parties said Israel launched an attack on Iran on June 12 to sabotage any potential negotiations between the latter and the US and now, the US has joined Israel in this act of aggression, even though President Donald Trump had given a two-week window to Iran for talks.
“This clearly demonstrates that the US-Israel axis has little regard for its own intelligence assessments or any diplomatic process, and is intent on imposing war on Iran and the entire West Asian region. This makes it evident that the real intention is to destroy Iran, establish imperialist hegemony over West Asia, and control the global flow of resources,” they said.
“This attack is aimed at serving the interests of the military-industrial complex and enabling international capital to navigate its way out of the prolonged crisis,” they said.
The Left parties compared the situation with the US invasion of Iraq, which they said was done on “similarly unverified claims that were later proven false”.
“It is ironic that the US, the only country to have ever used a nuclear weapon – despite Japan being ready to negotiate at the end of the Second World War – is now speaking about the threat of nuclear weapons!” they said.
The Left parties said the US attack will, in all likelihood, drastically escalate the conflict, with disastrous implications for global peace and the livelihoods of ordinary people – especially in countries like India, which rely heavily on West Asia for oil imports and opportunities for migrant labourers. They asserted that the Indian government should “immediately abandon its pro-US, pro-Israel foreign policy stance and join global efforts to stop the war”. (PTI)
