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Global Diplomacy, Not Bomb Threats, Needed on Iranian Nukes GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES Wednesday, January 18, 2006 Contacts: Greens call for a diplomatic U.S.-led global response to Iran's nuclear ambitions First rule: maintain the good will of the Iranian people, say Greens responding to threats against Iran from the U.S. and Israel; the Middle East, including Iran and Israel, must become a nuclear-free zone. WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called for a concerted global diplomatic effort to end the standoff over Iran's alleged attempts to gain nuclear arms capability, in the wake of reports that the U.S. and Israel are considering bombing raids. "If President Bush tries to provoke a military confrontration with Iran, the result will be similar to the Iraq disaster, perhaps worse," said Julia Willebrand, co-chair of the Green Party's International Committee. "Worst of all, he will have squandered a valuable resource -- the pro-American sentiments of many Iranians, especially those who wish to see a secular democratic government replace Iran's ruling theocratic regime." Responding to European media reports that the U.S. is considering a bomb attack on Iran (launched either by the U.S. itself or by Israel as a U.S. surrogate), Greens called on President Bush to avoid preemptive military action, which would violate international law and would likely result in numerous civilian deaths and turn the Iranian people against the U.S. Instead, the President should work with other nations, restoring alliances and global treaties damaged by the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and begin to apply united international pressure on Iran to abandon its nuclear goals. "The only way Mr. Bush can prove a U.S. commitment to peace in the region is by ending the occupation of Iraq with quick withdrawl of U.S. troops, and pressuring Israel to dismantle its own nuclear weapons capability," said Richard J. Walton, author of several books on U.S. foreign policy and a member of the International Committee. "The existence of any weapons of mass destruction in the area, whether in Israel or in Muslim nations, remains a threat to global security. The Middle East must become a nuclear-free zone." Greens have no illusions about the current government in Iran, which under the rule of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ayatollah Khameini has suppressed the rights of women, tortured and murdered gay people, and brutally crushed student demonstrations and political dissent. Greens also condemned President Ahmadinejad's belligerent call for the destruction of Israel and statements denying the Jewish Holocaust. "The international community needs to steer Iran away from a nuclear future, press Teheran to observe human rights and civil liberties, and support Iranians working for democracy in their country. But these efforts will only be successful if they're part of a global campaign to eliminate nuclear weaponry, protect rights and freedoms, and end the fossil fuel dependence which Iran and other regimes have exploited for destructive political purposes," said Steve Kramer, co-chair of the Green Party of the United States. "Most of all, we need to convince the Iranian people of our good will, which is not possible while the Iraq occupation continues and while they keep hearing about U.S. and Israeli bomb threats." For global diplomatic efforts to succeed, Greens emphasized, they must include Russia and China, which have their own interests (especially oil) in Iran, and without whose participation recent European diplomacy has failed. This is especially important, say Greens, because the U.S.'s powers of persuasion are limited as a result of the Iraq venture, which is widely perceived to be motivated by U.S. political and oil interests. MORE INFORMATION Green Party of the United States
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