MPPM condemns the assassination of Iranian General Soleimani and the escalation of US warmongering in the Middle East

The Movement for the Rights of the Palestinian People and for Peace in the Middle East (MPPM) condemns in the strongest terms the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards of Iran, carried out in the Iraqi capital by the United States.

The assassination of a high-ranking personality from a foreign country, out of a situation of war and furthermore in violation of Iraqi sovereignty, constitutes an act of state terrorism and a blatant violation of international law.

The United States, which invaded Iraq in 2003 without a UN mandate and on false pretexts, is fully responsible for the new escalation of instability and violence in the Middle East region, whose disastrous consequences will be suffered in the first place by its peoples, but which could spread unpredictably on a global scale.

Pursuing its strategy of destroying all countries and forces that oppose its imperial domination over this area of the globe, rich in natural resources and of primary geostrategic importance, the United States has long defined Iran as a central target, namely because of its support for the resistance of the Palestinian people against the Israeli occupation and for its decisive role in containing the external aggression against Syria.

The United States, which continues its military occupation of Iraq, deliberately chose the path of intensifying the tension, breaking the nuclear limitation agreement with Iran and increasing sanctions against it, even arrogating to itself extraterritorial jurisdiction which it imposes on other countries.
It is telling that the main drivers of the US anti-Iranian campaign are two of the most aggressive countries in the region, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

Israel diverts the world's attention from its repeated violation of UN resolutions, from its criminal policy of occupation, repression and massacre of the Palestinian people, from its arrogant intervention against countries in the region, to the point of carrying out bombings on Iraqi territory. For its part, the rich, retrograde and repressive Saudi petromonarchy seeks to make us forget its permanent interference in the affairs of other peoples and its primary responsibility for the war of extermination launched against Yemen, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula.

Portugal is also not immune from the consequences triggered by the crime of the United States. Indeed, there are Portuguese troops in Iraq, on a mission that has everything to do with a reprehensible alignment with the United States and NATO and nothing with the defence of Portugal's sovereignty and interests.

And it is not out of place to ask: has the crime now committed in Baghdad been agreed at the meeting in Lisbon between Michael Pompeo and Benjamin Netanyahu, which, in an undignified attitude, the Portuguese government has lent itself to hosting?

The Portuguese government must clearly condemn and distance itself from the escalation of war that the USA and Israel are imposing in the Middle East. It is a constitutional imperative, but also a political and moral one. Portugal cannot be associated with a criminal and bellicose policy, which threatens to set the Middle East and the world on fire.

In the dangerous situation that has been created, in which the danger of a devastating war is real, MPPM calls on Portuguese citizens and organizations to mobilise against the escalation of aggression and for the defence of peace and justice in the Middle East, while demanding from the Portuguese government, in compliance with constitutional precepts, a decided intervention in this direction.

5 January 2020

The National Directorate of MPPM