The Guardian 31 January, 2007
Iranian Party condemns Bush threats
Iran’s Tudeh (Communist) Party has assailed the Bush administration’s increasingly aggressive posture towards Iran, calling the US raid on an Iranian government office in Iraq a "provocation". It said the threats issued by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice were "worrying developments for all progressive and national forces of our country". These threats, the Iranian communists said in a January 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, the news about Israel’s plans to launch air attacks against Iran’s nuclear sites and the hostile policies of some Arab states against Iran, in harmony with the US, cannot be simply ignored", the statement said.
"US imperialism has targeted the sovereignty of our country in line with its militaristic policies and its aim to expand [its] ‘new order’ in the greater Middle East. The Tudeh Party strongly condemns any form of intervention in Iran’s internal affairs under any pretences and calls upon the international peace movement to mobilise 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, "[Iran’s] leaders, instead of taking effective policies to mobilise world public opinion against any kind of aggression on our country, practically assists imperialism’s plans with their irresponsible and provocative statements".
The statement "strongly condemns 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’, [while attacking] opposition political forces, the 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 emphasised 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.