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1:49:12 AM

Nationwide anti-war protest in UK — 'Don't Attack Iran

Activists from the 'Stop the War Coalition' in the U.K. held a countrywide protest action on Saturday to speak out against war with Iran. Fifteen major cities were involved.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets on Saturday, 24 March 2012 in major cities throughout the United Kingdom, including London, Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool.

A similar rally is expected to be held in the capital of Israel, which is leading calls to strike over Tehran's nuclear programme.

According to RT, the coalition's Nottingham unit has declared on its website that "the U.S. has always been tempted to use its overwhelming military strength to try to make up for its relative economic decline, exacerbated by the current crisis."

Activists from the coalition further say: "This means that the target is shifting to Iran and Syria. There are continual calls for intervention in Syria, and the war of words with Iran continually threatens to boil over into a war of aircraft carriers and bombs in the Straits of Hormuz.”

The present situation, which protesters call the "current hysteria against Iran” is being compared to the debates in 2002 over the invasion of Iraq.

When it was feared that war against Iraq was imminent, massive demonstrations were held against it.

In the same way as debates were held before the war in Iraq, many experts are warning that to attack Iran would be far too risky for both the U.S. and Israel.

"We heard it back in 2002. An attack on Iraq would have incalculable consequences across the region, we were told, and therefore will not be risked. Right and wrong, as we now know,” anti-war protesters state.

While regretting that they were unable to prevent the wars in both Iraq and Afghanistan, they are now calling on people to go to the streets and protest against the imminent threat of war with Iran.

"Just as we're winding down the disastrous and unnecessary war in Iraq, the very same people who misled our nation into invading Iraq are now saying that now we need to attack Iran,” they say.

Tensions grow around the nuclear program in Iran, and sanctions are being imposed on that country by the U.S. and Europe. The U.S., Europe and Israel have jointly accused Iran of enriching uranium for the purpose of building a bomb. Iran continues to deny this and says that their nuclear efforts are all peaceful. They state that their nuclear program is solely for energy and medical research.

British M.P., Jeremy Corbyn, who leads the "Stop the War Coalition", told RT in an interview (video below) that isolating Iran and permitting Israel to continue with its threats of war will lead to very dangerous developments.

"The way forward has to be de-escalating the tension and denuclearizing the region, otherwise somebody somewhere is going to develop a nuclear weapon,” he said.

When asked why Israel shouldn't be allowed to defend itself, Corbyn stated: "Israel has 200 nuclear warheads, has a delivery system, has a research reactor and certainly has the capability of bombing, with nuclear weapons, Iran or any other country in the region. Israel is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, Iran is and remains so."

Corbyn urges people to think about the consequences of an attack on Iran. He emphasized that this war would dramatically affect the world economy - this at a time when there is a global crisis. He stressed the incalculable loss of human lives should this war happen.

His final words in the video are strong indeed: "If we let slip the dogs of war, we will all live (if we do live) to regret it.”