Trade unionists and anti-war campaigners oppose attacks on Iran

Stop the War and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament have called protests (Picture: Guy Smallman)

Protests have been called across Britain to oppose the West’s support for war in Iran.

Stop the War and the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) have announced a protest in central London on Saturday.

Protesters gathered in Leeds, Brighton and Hastings over the weekend. There are further demonstrations planned in Manchester, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Bristol, Oxford, Newcastle and elsewhere.

The leaders of 12 trade unions in Britain released a statement on Sunday. It said, “We condemn an illegal war on Iran and the abandonment of diplomatic talks by the United States under pressure from Israel.”

“We oppose any attacks on civilians and oppose all unlawful wars.”

Signatories include Maryam Eslamdoust, the British-Iranian leader of the TSSA union, Unison general secretary Andrea Egan, Unite general secretary Sharon Graham, Daniel Kebede of the NEU and PCS union leader Fran Heathcote.

The Mena—Middle East and North Africa—Solidarity Network also put out a statement condemning Trump’s, Binyamin Netanyahu’s and Keir Starmer’s war.

It said, “Iranian workers and civil society organisations have a long and proud history of organising for liberation and justice, independent of foreign powers and repressive Iranian regimes.

“Iran’s teachers and school students have been at the forefront of organising peaceful protests and strikes against the regime’s repression, yet now a hundred children are buried under the rubble of the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in south Iran after US-Israeli bombing.”

“We affirm that ordinary people pay the price—through bombs, sanctions, hunger and displacement. Refugees of imperial wars are victims of Western aggression. Refugees are welcome here and have the right to be here.”

It said that unions can disrupt the war machine, as demonstrated by the general strikes in Italy, Greece and elsewhere.

Supporters can add their name to the statement. Mena Solidarity Network also produced a model motion for trade unionists to use.

Many of those taking to the streets have also marched against the genocide in Gaza.

The group Iranians for Palestine UK said, “These strikes are tearing through Iranian cities, destroying civilian infrastructure, killing and injuring ordinary people, and erasing the futures of families who have already lived through decades of repression and sanctions.

“This is an assault on Iran’s sovereignty and on the right of its people to live, rebuild, and determine their own future.

“We have opposed the Islamic Republic and supported the brave Iranian protesters who have filled Iran’s streets demanding freedom for many decades and more recently in January 2026.

“But bombs do not bring democracy. Bombs silence people. When civilians are running for their lives, when homes, schools and hospitals are burning, when communication networks have shut down, the possibility of collective organising is very limited.

“Western governments have simultaneously armed and protected Israel as it commits a genocide in Gaza and mass violence against Palestinians in the West Bank.

“The flagrant hypocrisy of Western powers means that the West has nothing to say to the rest of the world about human rights or the rule of law.”

GP Roghieh Dehghan told Socialist Worker, “It is very lonely being Iranian.

“When you are an anti-oppression Iranian—anti-imperialist but also against gender oppression and against the oppression of ethnic groups in Iran—it is really lonely.”

She explained how she disagrees with monarchists among the Iranian diaspora who celebrate the bombing.

“I work with survivors of torture but some of the oldest ones were tortured by the Shah Pahlavi. Torture is torture and oppression is oppression. That was a repressive regime too.”

“I don’t get how people can support war on Iran for Iran’s liberation. It’s seen as a respectable and legitimate view.”

Michael from Lewisham Stop the War told Socialist Worker, “We are really at the point where the US Empire is dying. It’s floundering about in its death throes and desperately trying to use military power.

“Iran has never started a war in its entire history—or at least you would have to go back pretty far. The US has started multiple wars and now they are saying this is a pre-emptive attack.”

• For Mena Solidarity Network’s statement and model motion, click here. For details of other protests and meetings go to www.stopwar.org.uk