Iran’s Tudeh (Communist) Party has assailed the Bush administration’s increasingly aggressive posture toward Iran, calling a “provocative” U.S. raid on an Iranian government office in Iraq and threats issued by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice “worrying developments for all progressive and national forces of our country.”
These threats, the Iranian communists said in a Jan. 19 statement, are part of “purposeful and planned efforts” with a “dangerous hidden agenda.”
The UN Security Council imposition of sanctions on Iran, “followed by the action of a few of the world’s major banks to suspend business with Iranian financial institutions, followed by provocative news about Israel’s plans to launch air attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites, as well as hostile policies of some of the Arab states in the region against Iran, in harmony with the U.S., cannot be simply ignored,” the statement said.
“U.S. imperialism has targeted the sovereignty of our country in line with its militaristic policies and ‘unlimited war against terror,’ aiming to expand [its] ‘new order in the greater Middle East,’” the party charged.
“The Tudeh Party of Iran strongly condemns any form of intervention in Iran’s internal affairs under any pretenses and calls upon the international peace movement to mobilize its forces around the globe to seriously oppose this dangerous development.”
At the same time, the party said, the current crisis “has escalated as a result of the foreign policy of the [Iranian] regime and the questionable and tension-creating actions of its leaders with regards to the legitimate and natural right of our country to have access to nuclear technology.”
Singling out Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s “destructive and adventurous policies” cloaked in “populist” rhetoric, the statement says, “The [Iranian] regime leaders, instead of taking effective policies to mobilize world public opinion against any kind of aggression on our country, practically assist imperialism’s plans with their irresponsible and provocative statements. Some of the circles in the country rightfully argue that the regime is trying to take advantage of the current crisis to cover up its deep domestic problems and the failure of the policies of the totalitarian government.”
The statement “strongly condemn[s] the oppressive policies of the [Iranian] regime, which are being implemented in the current situation under the cover of ‘safeguarding the unity of the Islamic nation,’ to attack the opposition political forces, independent press and national-religious forces.”
The party called for “fundamental changes” in Iran’s foreign policy aimed at “drawing the broad support of world public opinion and to isolate warmongering circles.”
The party emphasized its “strong objection to any military adventure in the region,” and that it “considers any intensification of military-political conflict in the region to be against the interests of the people of Iran, the Middle East region and global peace.”
“The popular movement of our people for building a democratic, progressive and modern Iran can only be expanded in a peaceful environment in the region and in the world,” the statement concluded.
The full text is available at .
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