Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
“The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable,” said Jeremy Corbyn, an independent member of the UK Parliament.
Elected officials, activists, and experts around the world voiced horror and outrage Saturday as US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu jointly launched an illegal war on Iran with the explicit goal of toppling the nation’s government, sparking chaos throughout the Middle East.
The wave of bombings, expected to mark the beginning of a wider assault, spurred airspace closures and flight cancellations across the region as countries braced for the fallout. While European leaders offered milquetoast responses to the unlawful military attack and Canadian and Australian officials openly endorsed it, leftist politicians and others unequivocally condemned the US and Israel as the aggressors.
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“The attacks on Iran by Israel and the United States are illegal, unprovoked, and unjustifiable,” said Jeremy Corbyn, an independent member of the British Parliament and former leader of the UK Labour Party. “Peace and diplomacy was possible. Instead, Israel and the United States chose war.”
“This is the behavior of rogue states—and they have jeopardized the safety of humankind around the world with this catastrophic act of aggression,” Corbyn added. “Our government must condemn this flagrant breach of international law, and urgently pursue a foreign policy based on justice, sovereignty, and peace.”
Progressive International co-founder Yanis Varoufakis, the former finance minister of Greece, echoed Corbyn’s criticism of the US and Israel as “rogue states.”
“Israel and the USA,” he wrote on social media, “have started a war not against Iran but against the whole world. We stand with Iranians, with humanity, against the notion that Israel and the US can bomb anyone their fancy takes them to bomb.”
Badr Albusaidi, the foreign minister of Oman and the mediator of recent US-Iran talks, said he was “dismayed” by news of the US-Israel attacks on Iran, which were quickly followed by reports of horrific atrocities. Albusaidi said hours before the bombs started falling on Iran that a diplomatic resolution was within reach.
“Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined,” Albusaidi lamented on Saturday. “Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this. And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further.”
Leftist Colombian President Gustavo Petro said he believes “President Donald Trump has made a mistake today” and implored the “helpless United Nations” to “convene immediately” in response to the US-Israel attacks and retaliation by Iran and allied groups in the region.
Iran vowed a “crushing” response to the US-Israeli onslaught, firing drones and missiles at Israel and pledging to hit US military installations in the region.
Al Jazeera reported that “Iran has targeted United States assets across the Gulf Arab states in retaliation for a huge joint attack on Iran by the US and Israel, as the region’s worst fears of being ignited in the flames of a sustained war loom.”
“The Iranian government on Saturday confirmed its attacks on several targets, according to the Fars news agency, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where US airbases are hosted,” the outlet noted.
Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0).
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