Leading Iranian NGOs petition against sanctions and military intervention against Iran

We, the undersigned, mindful of the experiences of:

• The Iraqi imposed war which killed hundreds of thousands of Iranians, left hundreds of thousands injured, dispossessed and homeless, and at least fifty two thousand suffering victims of chemical weapons attacks;
• The sanctions imposed on Iraq which had tragic consequences for the innocent people of that country and even prior to the attack and occupation of Iraq by Anglo American forces, had caused the death of more than half a million Iraqi children; and,
• More than 665,000 Iraqi citizens who lost their lives, according to the study carried out by Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and published in the scientific journal, Lancet, in the period between the invasion of 2003 until Summer 2006,

Voice our concern that:

• Sanctions or threat of military attack on Iran by the United States and its allies will not resolve the conflicts and tensions between the states; they will lead to dire and irreparable human consequences, and moreover, will serve to strike a massive blow to the nascent civil society in Iran; - sanctions or military intervention in Iran will put to waste all attempts at building an indigenous internal democracy and the promotion of human rights. This will reverse for years, or even decades, the domestic process of reforms;
• Any military intervention or foreign interference to create ethnic conflict and domestic unrest will further discredit international institutions and conventions and undermine respect for international conventions.

We therefore demand an end to all sanctions and threats of military attack against Iran. To resolve the differences, we urge the United States and its allies to enter direct dialogue with Iran on all points of dispute without preconditions, instead of resorting to threats and hostile confrontation.

We ask the Islamic Republic of Iran to pay more attention to human rights and social and political freedoms, so as to create the grounds for a stronger and greater unity of the people of Iran in the face of foreign pressures and threats.

Signed:

The Society for Chemical Weapons Victims Support (SCWVS)
http://www.scwvs.org

The Organization for Defending Victims of Violence (ODVV)
http://www.odvv.org

Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII)
http://www.campaigniran.org