The South African chapter of the Anti-Apartheid Movement strongly condemns the illegal
war launched by the USA and Israel on Iran. This imperialist and expansionist war has
already had devastating consequences in Iran, Lebanon, the West Asia region as a whole, and the world more generally.

The blame for all the devastation resulting from this war belongs to the United States and
Israel. Their unprovoked aggression has already caused the devastating loss of thousands of civilian lives – including school children – the displacement of millions of people, and the
massive destruction of civilian infrastructure.

The crimes of the US and Israel in Iran and elsewhere are not limited to the illegal war, the
assassination of the Iranian head of state, or the targeting of civilians (such as the school in Minab on the first day of attacks). It includes the fact that, for the second time in eight
months, these states launched illegal wars on Iran while in the midst of negotiations with its leaders. That the mediators reported that a deal was imminent indicates that the US used negotiations as a delaying tactic to prepare its forces for war.

The US intelligence community confirmed that Iran was not close to building a nuclear
weapon, nor did it intend to; it also acknowledged that there was no “imminent threat”
against the US. The US-Israel attack, thus, was in direct violation of Articles 2 and 51 of the UN Charter, relating to the use of force by a UN member state and the right to self-defence. It is also in violation of UNGA Resolution 3314, in terms of which this war imposed on Iran would be regarded as a war of aggression and a crime against international peace.

It is clear that the onslaught on Iran is part of Israel’s expansionist project, in its attempt to
dominate the entire West Asia region, and subjugate its populations to Zionist objectives. It is Israel, not Iran, that insists on territorial expansionism with its claims to a “Greater Israel”; it is Israel, not Iran, that possesses nuclear weapons; it is Israel, not Iran, that refuses to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and refuses to subject its nuclear installations to IAEA inspection; it is Israel, not Iran, that – until February 2026 – had attacked or invaded seven neighbouring countries. It is Israel, not Iran, that is guilty of committing a genocide against Gaza and now the West Bank, an illegally occupied population.

The US, with its regime change agendas, violations of international law, restoration of
colonial models (as with Trump’s proposals for Gaza and illegal sanctions against Cuba)
seeks to take the world back to a primitive age of imperial regimes, dictatorships, slavery,
colonialism and barbarism.

The recent actions of the US and Israel are a call to action to all the people of the planet.
Either we oppose their illegal programmes or we condemn the world to a future of barbarism, violence, subjugation of the weak by the powerful and the theft of resources by powerful imperialists and their billionaire cohorts.

We call on the South African government to: take an unambiguous position opposing the
US-Israeli illegal war; call for the dismantling of US military bases in West Asia and Africa;
immediately impose sanctions on the apartheid state of Israel; demand a BRICS position
opposing the US-Israel illegal war; and develop a global consensus against US imperial
adventures and Zionist expansionism.

We call on all South Africans to echo these demands; and to mobilise to stop the war, stand in solidarity with the Iranian people, and rise up against fascism and imperialism.