Friends of the Earth statement on the US and Israel’s devastating attacks on Iran

As violence escalates across the Middle East, the human cost is devastating and rising fast. Lives are being lost and families are being torn apart.

The people being hit hardest by these attacks have recently endured a brutal suppression of protests in which thousands were killed by the Iranian regime.

It has always been the ordinary people of the Middle East who have paid the heaviest price for coups, illegal wars and occupation in the region. From Iraq to Palestine these have often taken place with the complicity of western governments, including the UK.

Violations of international law, from targeting civilians and destroying livelihoods, to poisoning the environment and fuelling climate disasters, are the inevitable results of these illegal wars.

Friends of the Earth is calling on the UK government to defend the rule of international law and end all support for the US and Israel’s deadly and illegal war on Iran.

As well as tearing through international law and sending shockwaves of insecurity across the region, the conflict further exposes the role of climate-polluting fossil fuels in wars.

With oil and gas prices surging, the ripple effect is likely to be felt by people around the world, including in the UK, through soaring energy prices. These costs are set by volatile global markets, no matter where the fuel is drilled.

The UK government must speed-up the development of our vast homegrown renewable energy resources and invest far more in insulating Britain’s heat-leaking homes.

It’s time for real energy independence. The only people who benefit from our fossil fuel dependency are the polluters, billionaires and powerful vested interests lining their pockets as global temperatures soar and instability escalates.