1 March, 2026 | People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD)
Yesterday (February 28, local time), the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel and the administration of Donald Trump in the US launched an attack on Iran. This military assault, which President Trump himself defined as “major combat operations,” is an unlawful act that cannot be justified under any circumstances and constitutes a crime of aggression under international law. We strongly condemn Israel and the United States for carrying out this action. Israel and the United States must immediately halt their illegal act of aggression against a sovereign state.
Israel and the United States claim that this attack was a “preventive strike” against an “imminent threat,” but such an assertion is untenable. There is no evidence that Iran, which has been engaged in negotiations regarding uranium enrichment and related issues, posed any imminent threat to Israel or the United States. President Trump’s assessment that the negotiations were “not happy” cannot possibly serve as proof of an imminent threat. If Iran’s uranium enrichment program and missile program are to be regarded as imminent threats justifying preventive attack, does that mean that preventive strikes would also be permissible against Israel, which possesses nuclear weapons outside the NPT regime and has repeatedly carried out unlawful missile attacks against neighboring countries? The attack on Iran by Israel and the United States is nothing more or less than the logic of force that turns the world into a lawless arena.
Israel and the United States targeted Iran’s leadership and, following this attack, have incited “regime change” among the Iranian people in an attempt to portray their crime of aggression as being for the benefit of the Iranian people. However, the military actions of Israel and the United States are by no means for the Iranian people or for democracy. Democracy and state-building have never been achieved through external military attacks. Past cases such as Libya and Iraq resulted in the deaths of countless innocent civilians and the devastating destruction of national infrastructure. Since the launch of the so-called “War on Terror” by the United States, Iran’s democratic forces have in fact suffered greatly, and the Iranian regime has regressed into a far more authoritarian system. Nevertheless, the Trump administration cynically invokes the Iranian people — themselves another victim of this crime of aggression — to justify the very conflict it has created. Israel and the United States must cease this abhorrent incitement to bloodshed.
In response, Iran has launched missiles at Israel and at U.S. military bases in Middle Eastern Arab countries. As a result of this attack by Israel and the United States, the risk of escalation across the Middle East is increasing, along with harm to civilians, including children. Israel and the United States must immediately stop their attacks on Iran. They must return to the table for dialogue and negotiations and begin talks aimed at a peaceful resolution. That is the only viable solution.