Meeting of the Delegation of the Central Committee of the Tudeh Party of Iran with the “Group of the Unified European Left (UEL) in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe”

– Speech by Comrade Mohammad Omidvar to UEL

Dear comrades and friends,

Thank you for providing us with the opportunity to discuss the grave and dangerous situation developing in our region with you. As we start this meeting, we have just been informed the Iran has attacked US bases in Qatar in response to US aggression, which could yet be another escalation in these very challenging times.

As you are aware the Government of Bejamin Netanyahu, which has been accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes, for horrendous atrocities in Gaza, attacking its neighbouring countries of Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Killing more than 55,000 Palestinians and over 18000 children, unilaterally attacked Iran on Friday 13^th June killing and injuring hundreds of people over the last 10 days. It’s noteworthy to say that this unprovoked attack happened while the 6th round of negotiations between the US and Iran was due to start on Sunday, 15th June.

The Israeli government carried out this military aggression on the pretext that Iran was weeks away from making a nuclear bomb, a claim thoroughly rejected by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency and also, Tulsi Gabbard, Director of US National Intelligence, in the testimony she gave in March to US Congress where she said Iran was not pursuing a nuclear weapons programme through its refinement efforts.

It is also worth mentioning that Netanyahu has made these falsified claims about Iran being weeks away from making a bomb for a number of years.  In his speech to the UN General Assembly in 2015, some ten years ago, he said that “Iran is weeks away from having the fissile material for an entire arsenal of nuclear bombs.”

The attack on Iran is part of a bigger geopolitical plan for the reshaping of the Middle East based on the US Imperialism’s desire to control the region and its rich oil and gas resources, with Israel as its military gendarme.

Comrades and Friends

As you are aware, on the first hours of Sunday, June 22, USA fighter jets and its naval fleet bombed three nuclear sites in Iran in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan, thus joining the Israeli war against Iran. Also, further threatening Iran that “Any retaliatory action by Iran against the United States of America will be met with a force much greater than what we witnessed tonight.”

This attack by the Trump administration, like the attacks by the Israeli government, constitutes military aggression against Iran’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a clear and gross violation of international law contained in the United Nations Charter. Principles that explicitly prohibit any threat of force or use of force against the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of any member of the United Nations.

We note that the EU’s top diplomat, Kaja Kallas, in Geneva said “Iran must not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon, as it would be a threat to international security” at the same time asking Iran to come back to the negotiating table.

I must say that we have found the position of the big European countries like France, Germany, Britain and Italy’s  over the last two years nothing short of giving the Israeli government a blank cheque to carry out horrendous genocides, with impunity. This has been and remains one of the biggest threats to peace in our region and the world.

It is therefore not surprising that the governments, of  UK, France, Germany and Italy have refused to condemn the US military aggression against Iran, and the UK Prime Minister, ironically, urged Iran to “return to the negotiating table and prevent further escalation”. This is a bizarre statement given Iran was negotiating with EU foreign ministers only one day before being attacked by the US.

I want to finish by telling you that the situation in our country is very difficult, ordinary people are being killed and maimed in daily Israeli bombing, and right-wing forces on both sides of the Atlantic are talking about regime change in Iran.

Over the past two years, we have been witnessing significant social movements against the regime in Iran manifesting itself in hundreds of workers strikes, almost daily march of thousands of pensioners, teachers and nurses in all parts of the country and the heroic struggle of Iranian women, against the savage suppression of their rights,  which reached new peaks with the killing of Masha Amini in September 2022 with the slogan of “Women, Life and Freedom”.

Comrades

Our Party has been one of the key opponents of the Islamic Republic. As you may know, hundreds of our comrades, including almost the entire Party leadership, were either killed under torture or executed by the Islamic Republic in 1988. We and the progressive forces in Iran have been struggling to establish a national democratic and secular republic in Iran. We have always made it very clear that despite our opposition to the Islamic Republic, we are categorically opposed to any aggressive action to partition Iran and impose forces such as Monarchists, Mojahedin, or any group that does not arise from the will of the people and operates within the framework of the interests of foreign powers, such as the USA.

We strongly believe that all efforts should be directed towards an immediate end to the conflict and just peace negotiations. Any further escalation could be catastrophic, and we could witness another 2003 Iraqi invasion-type scenario. All efforts must be directed towards putting pressure on European Governments to stop the Israeli war machine by stopping arms supply to it and stopping further escalation of US involvement.

We also hope that the left forces in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will provide a strong voice of opposition against the pro-Zionist political line advocated by some European governments, such as Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and the European Council.

Thank you for your attention.