No war on Iran. Break the US alliance!

The state of Israel has launched an unprovoked and entirely illegal attack on Iran. While it has attacked Iran before, the current assault is the most extensive and threatens regional conflict at great cost to human life. At least 90% of those killed in Iran are civilians.

Furthermore, this act of war has been carried out with the support of the United States.

There is every reason to fear that intelligence gathered at Pine Gap has been passed on to Israel, which it has used as part of its murderous rampage.

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong’s response has been worse than useless.

While calling for “de-escalation”, Wong avoided commenting on the illegality of Israel’s actions, except to say that Israel, the aggressor, has “a right to defend itself”.

This is absurd, and worse, a nod of approval for Israel to continue.

Wong’s disingenuous words simply reinforce the impunity given to Israel to break international law and commit war crimes. It builds on the Labor government’s tacit support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people and its recent invasions of Lebanon and Syria.

Concerns about Iran’s nuclear program are no justification for the attack. Iran has no nuclear weapons, is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has allowed inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Israel, by contrast, is known to have nuclear warheads and is not a signatory to the treaty and does not allow independent inspections.

Israel remains a key strategic bulwark for projecting US power in the Middle East. Alexander Haig, United States Secretary of State under Richard Nixon, once put it bluntly: “Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.”

That’s why support for Israel is non-negotiable for the US and its closest allies.

No violation of international law; no crime, no matter how vile, not even genocide — the most serious of them all — will stop them supporting Israel. For them, there is no red line. They will have to be forced by the weight of public opinion.

The US and its allies are happy for Israel to do the dirty work of achieving “regime change” in Iran. Their publicly stated concern about political repression in the country is completely fake.

The fact that the US and Britain overthrew the democratically-elected government of Iran in 1953, carried out the illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and now enable the genocide of the Palestinians, among their many crimes in the region, is proof of this.

While Socialist Alliance supported the Iranian people’s fight during the Women, Life, Freedom movement, the only force that has the right to change the Iranian government is the Iranians themselves.

We add our voices to those demanding the Australian government condemn Israel’s war-mongering in the strongest terms and impose immediate sanctions, including cancelling the bilateral military ties.

The movement for peace with justice in this country must also press for the US military alliance, in all its forms, to end. This includes cancelling the AUKUS agreement and closing US military bases.

Through its participation in the US military alliance, Australia is promoting death and destruction. Instead, we call for an independent foreign policy, based on peace and justice.

Achieving such a transformation in Australia will require building a peace movement not seen in this country for many decades.

We ask you to actively join us in this effort and attend the upcoming protests against the bombing of Iran and opposing the genocide in Gaza.

[Sam Wainwright is a national co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance.]