The US military attack on three nuclear sites in Iran constitutes an irresponsible violation of international law with potentially dangerous escalating consequences. US President Trump is also breaking his election promise to stop ‘endless wars’.

The White House has chosen military force over negotiations to resolve the ostensible reason for the attacks – namely concerns over Iran’s nuclear power programme. These were broken off on 13 June by an Israeli surprise attack on Iranian military and nuclear installations and top regime officials.

Although President Trump seems to believe that he can bomb Iran back to the negotiating table, this military attack could set the entire region ablaze, with serious consequences for civilians in the region and around the world. It’s a direct threat to international peace and security.

The US air strikes are taking place on the eve of the NATO summit in The Hague on 24 and 25 June. They are a ruthless and unilateral demonstration of reckless presidential military power. They illustrate that the pressure to increase military spending must be framed within the context of the US’s pursuit of geostrategic dominance and the undermining of international law. For months, European NATO member states have been shamefully compliant with a lawless, authoritarian president.

Worse. Several EU governements and EU Commission President Von der Leyen have previously described the Israeli attacks against Iran as an “act of defence“. That is the world turned upside down. It is the warmongering of the extreme right-wing Israeli regime that is destabilising an entire region. Moreover, it is Israel that is the only country in the region that actually has nuclear weapons – outside any UN inspections regime.

The European silence or lack of action on Israel’s war policy in the region, its genocidal actions in Gaza, and its possession of nuclear weapons, with the full political and military support of the US, undermine the system of international law.

UN Secretary-General Guterres rightly calls on member states to de-escalate the situation and to ‘comply with their obligations under the UN Charter and other rules of international law.’

There is no military solution. The only way forward is diplomacy.

We call for:

– condemnation of the military aggression of Israel and the US;

– respect for international law and de-escalation;

– the dismantling of Israel’s nuclear arsenal and the establishment of a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East;

– world wide actions to protest and build for peace, on the weekend of June 28/29.