After the assassination of Iran’s top military commander Qasem Soleimani by a US drone attack on the 3 January, Tehran announced on the 6 January that it will no longer be bound by the limits on uranium enrichment that it accepted under the Iran nuclear deal.
On the 8 January, Iran launched strikes on US bases in Iraq in retaliation, which raised fears that the US drone attack had sparked a war as we suggested it would. Fortunately there were no casualties and the US president appeared to back down in a speech he gave later the same day.
But the threat of war and nuclear proliferation is still very real. We must be vigilant and oppose all British involvement in Trump’s drive to war. Please demonstrate with us on Saturday in central London.
Nuclear proliferation
Iran has steadily raised the limit on uranium enrichment since Donald Trump announced US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018. The landmark pact, which was agreed in 2015 between Iran, the US and the UK among others, set limits on Iran’s nuclear power programme in return for lifting sanction which had crippled the Iranian economy. US withdrawal from the deal and the assassination Soleimani, are clear indicators of how Trump agitating for war and pushing Iran in the direction of nuclear proliferation.
Trump’s withdrawal from the deal was followed by the reintroduction of crippling economic sanctions which have devastated the Iranian economy and while the EU – including the UK – has sought to maintain the agreement, the economic steps they have taken to alleviate the impact on Iran – via Instex – have been wholly inadequate.
Meanwhile, Trump has announced 52 targets, including historical sites of cultural significance, that will be destroyed in the event of an Iranian response to the killing of Soleimani.
The stakes are very high. Nuclear proliferation and war are very likely while Trump’s belicose actions are allowed to continue, aided and abetted by diplomatic and political support from the British Prime Minister and his government. Any attack on Iran risks setting the whole region on fire.
Our movement is mobilising both here in Britain as well as internationally. To stop this war we must rise up as we rose up against the Iraq war in 2003. We know these moves to war are unpopular, so we must mobilise this sentiment and demand that there is no British support for or involvement in a war on Iran and that our government takes steps to ensure that there is no such war.
Along with the Stop the War Coalition, we are calling a demonstration in London on Saturday. Please join us and do all you can to mobilise for this crucial demo.
- No War on Iran – demonstration
Gather: 12 noon Saturday 11 January 2020
BBC Portland Place, London, W1A 1AA
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