The following statement against the imperialist invasion of Iran and for an international socialist anti-war movement was issued on Monday evening by Christoph Vandreier, chairman of the Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (SGP-Socialist Equality Party in Germany). In it, he condemns in particular the support for the attack, which violates international law, by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who yesterday once again openly expressed his solidarity with Trump and the criminal regime change war at the White House.
Vandreier’s video received 190,000 views on Facebook, 115,000 views on TikTok and thousands more on other platforms in the first 24 hours. It received over 20,000 likes and over 1,000 supportive comments during this time, which shows a widespread rejection of war and the need for a socialist perspective against war.
Trump is bombing Iran, killing children and setting the entire region on fire. And Friedrich Merz applauds. This is the Western “rules-based order” they are always talking about.
On the night of February 28, the US and Israel attacked Iran without a UN mandate, without congressional approval—a clear violation of international law. They bombed Iran’s head of state, dozens of government officials and even a girls’ school, killing nearly 150 children. This is not a precision strike—This is state terrorism.
And what do Merz and the European governments do? They don’t condemn the aggressors—They condemn Iran. And they offer bases, aircraft and political cover. Merz is aligning Germany with Trump in a front that is prepared to risk a conflagration and even nuclear war for oil, dominance over China and geopolitics. This is nothing other than complicity in a crime against peace, the same fundamental crime for which the Nazis were convicted at Nuremberg.
While the German government has justified the escalation of the Ukraine war and billions in weapons deliveries time and again by citing Russia’s violation of international law, they won’t even name it as such in the case of the United States.
Merz’s claim that Iran is responsible for terror in the Middle East and that the war is therefore justified is cynicism that can hardly be surpassed. It was the German government that justified and supported the indiscriminate slaughter of tens of thousands of women and children in the horrific genocide in Gaza by the Israeli army. And that was unquestionably the greatest terror operation in the region in history.
No, the war against Iran is not about human rights, fighting terrorism or preventing a nuclear bomb. It is exclusively about geopolitical interests in the oil-rich Middle East and war preparations against China.
In their ruthlessness, the ruling class shows it is prepared to do anything and is heading toward a world war that would call into question the survival of human civilization.
Among the population, this madness meets broad rejection. Polls in the US have shown that an overwhelming majority opposes the war against Iran. But this opposition finds no expression in the political establishment. Even the Left Party in Germany supports the regime change operation and the goals of the federal government. It merely says the goals could be better achieved by other means.
The Socialist Equality Party says clearly:
This war is a crime against peace. It is a step toward global war and nuclear catastrophe. We demand an immediate halt to all US and Israeli attacks on Iran. Not one cent, not one ounce of support for this war. Withdraw all Western troops from the Middle East and end the sanctions. For an international, socialist anti-war movement of the working class.
If you are against Merz’s support for war, if you are against Trump and against this imperialist madness—Organize! Join the Socialist Equality Party and help build a conscious international movement against war.