SP supports petition against war on Iran
SP supports petition against war on Iran
A group of Dutch citizens of Iranian descent has taken the initiative to set up a petition in order to draw attention to the threat of war against Iran. Under the heading “No war against Iran” they are using a website to solicit signatures against the military threats against Iran coming principally from the US, whose government gives the possibly malevolent aims of the country's nuclear energy programme as its reason for the threat. Iran is working on uranium enrichment, a technology which could enable the production of nuclear weapons and which the US therefore wants to stop Iran from developing. As things stand, the US is attempting to persuade the United Nations Security Council to introduce punitive measures against Iran's nuclear policy.
According to SP Member of Parliament and Foreign Affairs spokesman Harry van Bommel, negotiations aimed at bringing about the nuclear disarmament of the entire Middle East - and beyond - would offer the only chance of finding a way out of the arms race, and these must be talks “on the agenda of which the disarmament of all of the countries involved must be placed, not only Iran, but also Israel, India and Pakistan. The latter two may not be in the Middle East, but are in a position to supply nuclear weapons to countries in that part of the world. That applies also, of course, to Russia, China, and indeed to the US itself. We're not only talking about nuclear warheads, but also long-range rockets, the problem of which is just as great.”
The group taking the initiative consists of a number of intellectuals of Iranian origin or descent who work in educational establishments in the Netherlands, as well as activists from a range of different political parties. They are all either refugees or the children of refugees who fled the Islamic Republic because they were no longer able to live there in safety.
The group does not want to see Iran becoming a second Iraq and is calling for the war to be stopped before it starts, opposing every form of military intervention against Iran, and for three reasons: a military attack would lead to the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians, to instability in the Middle East, and to conflict between different groups of the Iranian population and eventually to civil war.
Harry van Bommel called for support for the petition, which can be read in English, Dutch and Farsi at www.geenoorlogtegeniran.nl: ”It is of the utmost importance,” Mr van Bommel said, “to prevent a repetition of the Iraq scenario. I'm pleased that Foreign Minister Ben Bot has spoken out against war on Iran as a possible punitive action. I hope that he sticks to that. I therefore call on everyone to support the initiative group's action. At the same time we offer our strongest support to all of those calling for democratic reforms in Iran itself. Preventing war would be a good start. I urge everyone to sign.”