West Asia tensions: Left parties urge Modi govt to abandon 'pro-US, pro-Israel' foreign policy

New Delhi: Condemning the US’ bombing of Iran as “grave violation” of Iran’s sovereignty and the UN Charter, the Left parties on Sunday warned that it will “inflame global tensions, destabilise West Asia and have severe economic repercussions”.

The parties asked the Modi government to abandon its “pro-US, pro-Israel” foreign policy stance and join global efforts to stop the war.

The CPI(M), CPI, CPI(ML)L, RSP and Forward Bloc said in a joint statement that the US and Israel are justifying their attacks by claiming that Iran was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon though the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US intelligence agencies acknowledged that they did not have evidence indicating that Tehran was developing a nuclear weapon.

Track latest updates on the West Asia conflict here.

The parties said the US deployed B-2 stealth bombers to drop bunker-busting bombs on Iran, reenacting the invasion of Iraq, which was also launched on “similarly unverified claims that were later proven false”.

“It is ironic that the US, the only country to have ever used a nuclear weapon – despite Japan being ready to negotiate at the end of the Second World War – is now speaking about the threat of nuclear weapons,” they said.

General Secretaries MA Baby (CPI-M), D Raja (CPI), Dipankar Bhattacharya (CPIML-L), Manoj Bhattacharya (RSP) and G Devarajan (Forward Bloc) warned that the US attack will “drastically escalate the conflict, with disastrous implications” for global peace and the livelihoods of ordinary people – especially in countries like India, which rely heavily on West Asia for oil imports and opportunities for migrant labour.

The already burdened working masses will be the worst affected by the economic fallout of the war, they said while asking party units to organise protest actions against this act of imperialist aggression

The leaders said Israel launched an attack on Iran on June 12 to “sabotage any potential negotiations between Iran and the US, as they recalled IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi’s statement on June 19 that they do not have “ any proof of a systematic effort to move into a nuclear weapon” and that Iran remains a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

“Now, the US has joined Israel in this act of aggression, even though President (Donald) Trump had given a two-week window for talks. This clearly demonstrates that the US-Israel axis has little regard for their own intelligence assessments or any diplomatic process, and is intent on imposing war on Iran and the entire West Asian region,” they said.

“This makes it evident that the real intention is to destroy Iran, establish imperialist hegemony over West Asia, and control the global flow of resources. This attack is aimed at serving the interests of the military-industrial complex and enabling international capital to navigate its way out of the prolonged crisis,” they said.