Debate contribution: Illegal US and Israeli Attacks on Iran

Debate contribution by Mr Declan Kearney on 16 March 2026.

MLA: Mr Declan Kearney
Party at the time: Sinn Féin
Date: 16 March 2026
Type: Debate contribution
Business: Private Members' Business
Heading: Illegal US and Israeli Attacks on Iran
Assembly identifier: Official Report component 5449147

Text

I beg to move
The decision by the United States and Israel to launch unprovoked military operations against Iran is a flagrant violation of the United Nations charter and international law. It is the second time in nine months that America has begun a war in the midst of a live political negotiation. Just days before it began, the US-Iran nuclear talks were concluding in Geneva under Omani mediation. To be clear, launching strikes during active negotiations violates the principle of good faith set out in article 2 of the UN charter. Yet again, the actions of the United States and Israeli Governments have fundamentally damaged the multilateral system. Sinn Féin will support the Alliance amendment, which is a considered contribution to this hugely important issue. We will not support the SDLP amendment, because it is the opposite of that common-sense approach. The strikes on Iran are part of a broader pattern of illegal unilateral actions by the United States and Israel. The expansionist objectives of the United States and its Zionist ally are once again pushing the Middle East towards an abyss. Their war is illegal. It is not a legitimate response to the human rights violations, lack of democracy and breaches of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that have been taking place in Iran. The glaring irony of the military action is that the international institutions, laws and standards required to address the breaches of human rights in Iran are the very institutions, laws and standards that are now being violated by the illegal actions of the United States and Israel. The initial so-called justification for the US-Israeli strikes on Iran does not stand up to objective scrutiny. It is mere months since the United States president declared that Iran's nuclear programme had been completely obliterated, countering any suggestion of an imminent threat. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had already verified that no nuclear weapon capacity existed or was being developed.
Remember the lies that were told to us all about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
Predictably, the conflict has now spiralled out of control, with indiscriminate mass killings and destruction, such as at the elementary school in Minab. The murder of the children in Minab, the attacks on hospitals and all forms of civilian infrastructure and the displacement of over 3·2 million people in Iran constitute war crimes. They are the consequences of an Administration who do not consider themselves accountable to international law. The British Government's decision to join the US-Israeli war is equally reckless. It is obvious from the contradictory messaging from the US Administration that the Americans have started a war with no sense of how it will finish. The spectre of catastrophic wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya once again looms large. Alongside the ongoing carpet bombing of Iran, Israel has mounted sustained air and ground attacks against Lebanon that have displaced nearly one million people. In reaction, Iran has mounted missile attacks against and violated the national sovereignty of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Qatar. Hundreds of civilians are being killed in Iran, Lebanon, Israel and elsewhere, and tens of thousands have been injured across the region. Where will it stop? Huge numbers of Irish and British citizens work, live and holiday in Gulf States such as UAE and Qatar. The DUP has tried to manufacture a cynical political controversy by attacking First Minister Michelle O'Neill's decision not to attend the British Government's confidential security briefings. Michelle O'Neill made the right decision. The focus of our power-sharing Executive should be on international law and humanitarian priorities and securing the safety of Irish and British citizens —
— not being briefed on military manoeuvres
as the DUP's deputy First Minister advised us. Meanwhile, the attacks by all sides have disrupted liquefied gas production and global oil and energy supplies
Petrol, diesel and oil heating costs here have already dramatically increased. That will lead to increased shop prices for local consumers in the North. Cost-of-living pressures for workers and families are becoming more extreme while big businesses continue to make profits. Capitalism always prospers in times of war. In the midst of those intense pressures for workers and families, a former DUP leader, Arlene Foster, has pressed for welfare cuts in order to pay for weapons of mass destruction for the British state. It comes as no surprise, therefore, that the DUP favours despicable warmongering and is willing to have the most vulnerable pay the price for that. Once again, political unionism is an outlier in relation to human rights, diplomacy and global relations
The duplicity of some unionist representatives in the Assembly and the Executive is absolutely appalling. They abuse these political institutions to continuously rake up the past of our own political conflict
They purport to hold a higher morality than everyone else while shamefully warmongering, denying genocide and championing the same disregard for international law as American imperialists and Israeli Zionists. Ordinary Iranian families and other citizens across the Gulf region did not choose the war, but they will now pay the human cost. In Ireland, workers and families will suffer a huge financial cost as they struggle to pay higher energy and food bills. Israel is already engaged in a genocide in Gaza and an illegal occupation of the West Bank. The current expansion of its military aggression beyond Palestine will further destabilise the Middle East.
The United States and Israel have a long and destructive record of military interference in the Middle East
Those states are shredding the international rules-based order, and their aggression is pushing the rest of the world into a dangerous place where rules no longer matter and the law of the jungle prevails. There must be an immediate de-escalation and a permanent end to all hostilities. There is no alternative to political dialogue, diplomacy, the primacy of international law
and a commitment to peaceful coexistence. Sinn Féin will not be in any way complicit in Britain's latest Middle East war alongside the Americans and Israelis. The Irish Government and the Assembly must become voices for peace, diplomacy
and adherence to the principle of self-determination and the primacy of international law

1,034 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

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