In Gaza the convicted Israeli war criminal, Netanyahu has tried to justify the Israeli state genocide against Palestinians with an erroneous claim that Israel is acting in “self-defence”. Now he is using the same lie to seek support for the bombing of civilian and military targets in Iran.

Underlying his bellicose lies amidst the rising toll of civilian deaths in Tehran and elsewhere, he has said the bombing provides “an opportunity “for the Iranian people to replace the clerical dictators and rally behind its historic legacy”.

Netanyahu claims his actions are “fully coordinated “with the U.S. government, but neither the Israeli state nor the U.S. has the best interests of the Iranian people in mind but see the attacks as part of their expansionist ambitions.

The Israeli aggressors, the U.S. and the British establishment have learnt from their catastrophic attempts at “regime change “in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria by avoiding direct military intervention and are attempting to stimulate political change in Iran through aerial bombardment and terror, which they hope will lead to a subservient client regime in Tehran.  It’s a strategy reminiscent of the ancient Romans in creating their Empire: creating a desolation[i]  and calling it peace.

The Iranian people have suffered decades from the mismanagement of the Iranian economy and appropriation of its wealth by the theocratic dictatorship. In addition, U.S. sanctions have increased the suffering for workers and young people, and any organised opposition is ruthlessly suppressed.

The unjustified and criminal attack on Iran is an assault on its people, while also risking military escalation which could spread mass destruction throughout the region and the wider world.

Iranian working people, women and students and progressive organisations will continue their struggle against the persecution and oppression of the regime. However, it will be on their terms for human rights and self- determination and NOT under the direction of the apartheid Israeli state or the vicarious plans of the U.S. military industrial complex!

CODIR stands for international solidarity with Iranian people for peace, social progress and freedom, and an end to Britain’s deployment of military assistance to Israel and its complicity in genocide and war.

No more war! Build solidarity with the Iranian people!

Brian Topping

Editor, Iran Today

[i] The Roman historian Tacitus, in his work Agricola, uses the phrase “ubi solitudinem faciunt, pacem appellant” (they make a desert, and call it peace) to describe the Roman approach to conquest and rule.