A group of 110 activists in Iran has issued a statement condemning the military threats against their country.
In recent weeks, Israeli officials have made a number of statements about possible military attacks on Iran. However, the military attack option has been heavily criticized by Russian and French foreign ministers and, most recently, by U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta.
The Iranian activists write: “Military intervention is merely an excuse for undemocratic rulers to use the murky waters of war to achieve their ends and to once again exacerbate the oppression of the people’s movement and their rightful demands because of critical and extraordinary conditions.”
They go on to add that the people in Iran want “to determine their own fate in the actual arena of struggle.”
The statement goes on to say: “All those who applaud NATO and U.S. bombers under any name or situation have no place beside the Iranian people, and we must tell them outright that their path has diverted from that of the people.”
The statement expresses support for the global, peaceful, freedom-seeking and progressive Occupy movements as well as the Arab uprisings.
Previously, 121 Iranian intellectuals and activists in exile issued a similar statement condemning the beating of war drums against Iran.
