PSPD in English Peace/Disarmament 2025-06-25 15403

[Joint Statement] We Condemn the U.S Strikes on Iran. Stop the attacks on Iran!

The greatest threat to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime is the United States’ unilateralism and double standards

23 June 2025

On June 21 (local time), the United States bombed three major Iranian nuclear sites in Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. Following Israel’s preemptive strike against Iran, the United States took direct military action, effectively launching a war against Iran. The United States’ attack has plunged the entire Middle East into the brink of war and seriously jeopardised peace and security around the world .

We strongly condemn the illegal attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities by the United States.

The US bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities is an act of aggression that violates international law and the UN Charter. Armed attacks on nuclear facilities are clearly prohibited under international law and are extremely dangerous, as they could lead to catastrophic consequences for the entire world, such as radioactive leakage.

In the absence of a direct armed attack on its soil, the United States’ pre-emptive strike against Iran’s mainland violates Article 2, Paragraph 4 of the UN Charter and is no different from the “preventive war” that the Bush administration claimed when it invaded Iraq. The United States’ attack is an illegal invasion. They are responsible for all consequences.

It is absurd for Israel, an illegal nuclear-armed state, to use the “elimination of Iran’s nuclear threat” as a justification for military attack.

Israel launched a pre-emptive strike against Iran on the 12th and praised the US attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities as a “bold decision that will change history.” Israel claimed that “Iran’s nuclear program threatens our very existence and endangers world peace.” This is the pot calling the kettle black.

Israel is the only country in the Middle East that possesses nuclear weapons. Israel’s pre-emptive strike against Iran under the guise of “eliminating the nuclear threat” is unjustifiable on any grounds. If there is any existing nuclear threat that needs to be eliminated in the Middle East, it is the nuclear weapons possessed by Israel. The condition for extending the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1995 was the “nuclear-weapon-free zone of the Middle East.” Furthermore, with the support and backing of the United States and other Western countries, Israel has committed war crimes for over 600 days in the Palestinian Gaza Strip, massacring over 50,000 people, and has invaded various parts of the Middle East, including Syria, Yemen, and Lebanon, threatening peace and stability in the region.

The United States’ unilateralism and double standards are clearly disrupting the international nuclear non-proliferation regime.

Rafael Grossi, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), warned that “armed attacks on nuclear facilities should never take place” and urged the international community to seek a diplomatic solution, stating that “the IAEA can guarantee, through a watertight inspections system, that nuclear weapons will not be developed in Iran.” Despite this, the Trump administration is in clear violation of its obligations under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) to pursue “disarmament by the nuclear-weapon States”. Not only that, but it is also collaborating with Israel—a non-NPT signatory and de facto Nuclear State—to carry out airstrikes on nuclear facilities in Iran, a non-nuclear-weapon state that is an NPT member. The Trump administration has even threatened further attacks on Iran. This is a blatant violation that undermines the very foundations of the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. The unilateral actions of the US and Israel are the greatest challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime. In particular, by ignoring its treaty obligations and exclusively siding with Israel, the US has made it difficult to demand that other non-nuclear states adhere to their non-nuclear commitments. Following the US attack, Abbas Gholam, chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s Foreign Policy Committee, stated on social media that Iran has the legal right to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

There is no military solution. Dialogue and negotiation are the only way forward.

Despite the denials of the United States, armed attacks of Israel and the U.S. aim to regime change in Iran. This will lead to an unwanted international conflict in the Middle East and the entire world into an unwanted international conflict. The United States and Israel must cease all military actions immediately and return to the table for dialogue and negotiation. Diplomatic solutions through dialogue and negotiation are the only way to resolve the current crisis.

23th June, 2025

Endorsed by 212 South Korean Civil Society Organizations