Following military strikes by the USA and Israel on Iran, and Iran's retaliatory strikes across the Middle East, Chair of The Elders, Juan Manuel Santos, calls for de-escalation and a return to negotiations. He says: 

"The military strikes by the USA and Israel against Iran violate international law and threaten regional and global security. Those actions, together with Iran’s response, imperil lives both inside Iran and far beyond its borders. 

The Iranian Government’s systematic denial of human rights and its brutal suppression of protests are indefensible and must be condemned without reservation. Yet history shows that wars aimed at regime change deliver neither democracy nor stability. Instead, they leave chaos and long-term insecurity in their wake. The collapse of the Iranian state would create a severe risk that nuclear material falls into the hands of terrorists or other non-state actors, with catastrophic consequences for the world. 

Dialogue was making progress and was scheduled to resume next week. As Chair of The Elders, I call for an immediate halt to military escalation to allow an urgent return to diplomacy."

ENDS