STATEMENT: The Elders warn today that countries will be drawn into an illegal war if they acquiesce to continuing US demands around the Iran crisis, such as to assist in securing the Strait of Hormuz for shipping. We urge countries to stand up collectively, resist pressure, and make it clear that those who initiated this war are responsible for its consequences and for ending it quickly.

International law should not be invoked selectively. Many Western leaders rightly insisted that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 demanded an unequivocal response. They were swift to criticise states who put their economic interests above principle.

Yet many of the same leaders now hesitate to call out unlawful military action by the USA and Israel. This hypocrisy is not lost on audiences in the Middle East or across the Global South. It is eroding trust in international institutions, and feeding the perception that Western countries invoke rules only when politically convenient.

The recent UN Security Council resolution condemning Iranian attacks on neighbouring states, while omitting any reference to the initial US-Israeli strikes, illustrates this troubling selectivity. When the Council applies the law unevenly, it undermines its own authority.

The ongoing US and Israeli aggression against Iran and Iran’s retaliatory strikes across the Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean threaten grave consequences for regional security and the global economy.

Military action will deliver neither peace, justice, nor the respect for human rights Iranians deserve following longstanding, systematic violations and the recent bloody repression of peaceful protesters by the regime.

The lack of a coherent US strategy raises the prospect of instability within Iran comparable to that following the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq. This danger is further increased by uncertainty over the location and status of Iran’s stockpiles of highly enriched uranium.

There is no military solution to nuclear proliferation. When nuclear-armed states strike a non-nuclear state during negotiations, the message is unmistakable: that possessing nuclear weapons could provide protection. The most likely consequence of the illegal war launched on Iran is not greater security, but rather further incentives for nuclear proliferation.

Leaders who say they believe in international law must stick to their principles, and put long-term stability above short-term considerations.

ENDS

Juan Manuel Santos, former President of Colombia, Nobel Peace Laureate and Chair of The Elders 

Graça Machel, Founder of the Graça Machel Trust, Co-founder and Deputy Chair of The Elders  

Gro Harlem Brundtland, former Prime Minister of Norway and former Director-General of the WHO 

Helen Clark, former Prime Minister of New Zealand and former head of the UN Development Programme 

Elbegdorj Tsakhia, former President and Prime Minister of Mongolia 

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 

Hina Jilani, Advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and co-chair of the Taskforce on Justice 

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, former President of Liberia and Nobel Peace Laureate 

Denis Mukwege, physician and human rights advocate, Nobel Peace Laureate 

Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 

Ernesto Zedillo, former President of Mexico 

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