1 – The PCP expresses its great concern at the escalation of conflict that the USA, the European Union and several NATO powers are waging against Iran. Particularly serious expressions of this are the deployment of major military forces to the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, the repeated violations of Iranian air space, and other provocative actions attributed by the Iranian authorities to countries such as Israel and the USA.
The PCP calls attention to the terrible consequences that any military provocation against Iran would have for the Middle East and Central Asian regions, especially at a time when the deepening international crisis of capitalism is generating instability and insecurity, that are increasingly becoming key features of the international situation.
2 – The PCP condemns the European Union's recent decision – adopted at its Council of Foreign Ministers – to apply fresh unilateral sanctions against Iran.
It is a decision that highlights the European Union's stance as a hanger-on to the USA's militaristic agenda in the Middle East and Central Asia. This decision demonstrates that the European Union is no longer able to conceal its imperialist nature, and will have extremely negative economic consequences for a number of European countries that are already mired in a deep economic crisis, among them Portugal.
Contrary to what European officials and Portugal's Foreign Affairs Minister say in their speeches, this decision does not seek to open up prospects for a political solution to the conflict – on the contrary, it shows that their option is to leave no room for diplomatic negotiation and dialogue. This option has already been openly exhibited by the USA and the European Union in May 2010 when these countries boycotted the agreement between Iran, Brazil and Turkey on the exchange of nuclear fuel.
3 – The PCP denounces the European Union's massive hypocrisy when it justified its decision with an alleged danger of Iran developing
nuclear weapons. The hypocrisy is blatant: these unilateral sanctions are imposed by some of the world's biggest nuclear powers – the world's largest nuclear power, the USA, as well as France and Great Britain, whose nuclear arsenal is around 500 nuclear warheads. Their hypocrisy and cynicism is also made blatantly obvious by the fact that the European Union maintains relations of close economic and military cooperation with Israel, a country that is not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty but is the region's sole nuclear power, illegally occupies territories of Palestine, Lebanon and Syria, and repeatedly operates outside and against the most elementary principles of International Law.
4 – The PCP reiterates its principled position of support for peoples' self-determination and sovereignty, and in particular the right to guaranteed energy sovereignty.
At the same time, the PCP highlights the fact that it has always stood for the creation of a nuclear weapons-free zone in the Middle East. The implementation of such a decision would necessarily, and in the first instance, imply the dismantlement of Israel's illegal nuclear arsenal.
