Sunday, 19 July 2026: The South African Communist Party (SACP) condemns the continued US-Israel war against Iran, which has caused massive devastation to the people of Iran and undermined the ceasefire. This is a violation of international law.

Following a brief period of cessation of hostilities, the US government resumed its military campaign against Iran, seeking to elevate its war operations. The 82-day ceasefire brokered on 8 April has been abruptly terminated by the US. The seven consecutive days of bombing in Iran by the US and Israel regimes have clearly put the idea of negotiations in serious doubt. This series of events underscores the US’s enduring commitment to war against Iran and the worsening of the military confrontation in Iran and in the Middle East, broadly.

Despite its public declarations of peace and progress, the actions of the US army and its allies demonstrate little inclination to ease their efforts to annihilate Iran as a nation and its people. The bombing of non-military targets lays bare the evil intentions of the US government and the genocidal seeds of its operations against Iran. The concurrent actions of the US and Israel against Lebanon at the same time reveal more evidence of their common genocidal intent. The attacks on desalination plants and hospitals have the obvious underpinnings of war crimes. The imperialist war against Iran has been correctly described by the SACP and many others as both immoral and unjustified, and its latest permutations have confirmed this characterisation.

As the SACP, we continue to condemn this war against Iran. We condemn the war as a desperate and indeed distractive act of a desperate superpower clutching at straws as it experiences its growing illegitimacy. We call for continued unity of all anti-imperialist forces. We pledge our solidarity with Iran.