HELGA ZEPP-LAROUCHE: We are now in the third week of this unprovoked war of aggression against Iran, and it does not go well for neither the United States nor for Israel. That, however, does not mean that we are out of the danger zone, because both when the war aims of Israel are not fulfilled and they are on the losing side, the danger of use of nuclear weapons is rising. And also there are many warnings coming from different quarters that the losing party may be tempted to reverse the course of events through a false flag provocation, whereby some drone or some missile would be launched against a target, maybe even in the United States, and that would be blamed on Iran. And as these things go, once you are entering such a development, the events are cascading and could really lead to the desired result.
But otherwise, I can only say that the aura of power, despite the fact that naturally the whole world is still completely afraid of what Trump has unleashed, nevertheless the aura of power has quickly collapsed, because despite Trump’s call that all these allies must come and defend the Strait of Hormuz, actually nobody is following. So neither Japan, Australia, U.K., South Korea, or France have so far agreed to follow Trump’s call. So Trump had said basically in a rather threatening tone that, I’m demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory, because it is their territory. It is the place from which they get their energy.
And then he warned that NATO faces a very bad future if its members fail to come to Washington’s aid. And then he said that before he goes to China, he wants to know what their answer is, obviously insinuating that he may not even go if they don’t follow. But even so-called close allies like Japan are not following. Prime Minister Takaichi said she did not plan to dispatch naval vessels, and she says that Japan will examine what they can do independently, but it would be done within the legal framework. Also the Japanese Defense Minister Koizumi said he has no plans to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. Australia said it has not received any formal request to send warships. And the Transport Minister Catherine King said in a radio show, we know how incredibly important that is, but that’s not something I have been asked or we are contributing to. The U.K. is considering sending aerial minesweepers, but also no vessels. South Korea said they will continue to communicate closely with the U.S., but making no commitment. And the spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington said to CNN, China wants an immediate cessation of hostilities. And France has said they have not changed their plan to help secure the Hormuz Strait after the fighting is over. [German Foreign Minister Johann] Wadephul had said something similar, that we are there after the war.
So that doesn’t look so good for Trump. And the Chinese vice chairman of the Shanghai Center of International Studies said that on the threat to China concerning the trip of Trump, he said he is bombing one of the biggest countries in the Middle East, which could well end up in provoking World War III. I don’t believe that the Chinese government is going to respond to Trump’s call.
And Hegseth, you know, Trump did all but saying that the Strait of Hormuz is open except for the shooting. The only thing prohibiting transit in the Strait is now Iran shooting at shipping. It’s open for transit. I mean, this is really incredible.
Now, also, there is now massive demand from Democrats in the Senate who demand a thorough investigation about the shooting of this school where 160 girls were killed. But as I said, there are many warnings that a false flag operation could be launched. Larijani, the head of the Supreme National Security Council warned that a false flag operation inside the United States could be blamed on Iran, and there would be an Israeli plan to blow up the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and then blame Iran as being responsible for it. He also said that the remaining members of the Epstein networks would have plotted an incident like that on September 11 and then blamed Iran. Also, the New York Times reports that there were fake missile attacks, and that in social media there are AI-created videos, and basically saying that there is a very broad base of emanating such fake videos which show scenes which have never taken place: exploding cities, burning warships, fleeing civilians, and, basically, so a lot of fakes are, according to the New York Times, around the USS Abraham Lincoln. So, obviously, this is very dangerous because some of these fake videos are very difficult to identify as fake, because some of them are really looking very realistic, including fake statements by real persons, and obviously you can create real havoc with that.
Now, Mike Waltz, the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, basically said it will be Trump who will decide when the war is ended; but in the meantime we will have won a dominant victory. He said the United States has never been in such a position of strength, and the Iranian regime has never been in such a position of weakness when it comes to options. Now, that is all propaganda, and does not correspond to the truth at all.
Then the other major development is that it is very clear that the United States definitely has lost the moral ground, and I think very significant is, short of responding to our campaign, the open letter to the Pope, nevertheless there are a lot of statements that have come from church circles, Vatican circles, all absolutely massively condemning this war. State Secretary Cardinal Parolin rejected the claim that this is a preventive war by saying that they keep the dialogue open, but that this is not a preemptive war. Cardinal McElroy, Archbishop of Washington, said the war is morally unjustifiable. Chicago Cardinal Cupich said it was sickening how the White House was splicing video game imagery into social media messaging about the war.
Pope Leo, in a class he gave to priests on the sacrament of confession, said that those Christians who have responsibility in armed conflicts should have a serious examination of conscience and go to confession. The head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference called on all religions to seek bold solutions to war, and even the German Cardinal Marx, who is the Archbishop of Munich and former head of the German Bishops’ Conference, sharply criticized the attack by Israel and the U.S., saying that according to Catholic social teaching, this is an illegitimate war and cannot be accepted. This is quite important because normally the German Catholic Church is always more close to the government, and they never stick their neck out like that. But he called on people not to resign themselves to this. He said, we must not allow ourselves to be discouraged. Now more than ever, we must be involved both as church and individual citizens. Now that is very important.
Then the head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference, Cardinal Zuppi, called for all religions to act in search of bold solutions to end the war; that the military use of AI is a despicable betrayal. And also he blasted the killing of those very people with whom one must or will have to negotiate—a despicable betrayal of every rule of dialogue and respect. He also blasted the various failures like Minsk; that Minsk was not acted upon and the Resolution 1701 in Lebanon. And he said artificial intelligence in military affairs is completely outlawed. He quoted Pope Francis, who regretted that the opportunities presented by the end of the Cold War were not fully seized due to a lack of vision for the future. Now, remember that we, in that period, not only had put forward the vision of what to do, first of all, the Productive Triangle, and then after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eurasian Land-Bridge; but we had warned in many speeches that the West should not conclude out of the collapse of the Soviet Union that they were the morally superior one. That was also what Pope John Paul II said, and I made many speeches warning that if one would make the mistake to superimpose on the collapsed Soviet economy, the equally bankrupt free market economy, it would lead to an even more gigantic collapse after some years of exploitation.
Now, the Church also is obviously clearly aware of the satanic nature of Peter Thiel, who is in Rome, of all places, I mean, this guy has a nerve, you know, holding a three-day seminar on the topic of the Anti-Christ, and basically there is an attack by the Church on what they call technological utopianism and trans-humanism, and they say the obsession with the Anti-Christ is born out of a partial and forced interpretation of the legacy of René Girard, the anthropologist who introduced the concepts of desire and mimetic violence. You know, this is what Peter Thiel is following, and they also blast Palantir. So, you know, the moral climate and the unwillingness of the Allies to join in this war clearly is driving Trump into a frenzy, but it is a non-deniable fact.
Now, on other topics, there are obviously extremely crucial elections everywhere in Germany, for example in Budapest, over the weekend there was a demonstration of thousands of people in a pro-government demonstration. The election will be on April 12th, and, you know, this was for Orbán, but in the polls Orbán is right now lagging behind, so it is unclear what will happen there. Belgian Prime Minister De Wever said that Europe should negotiate with Russia; but then he was immediately countered by his foreign minister, who said that would be a sign of weakness.
