Helga Zepp-LaRouche, the founder of the Schiller Institute and initiator of the International Peace Coalition (IPC ), started the 146th consecutive Friday weekly meeting of the IPC on March 20 by challenging the audience to help stop the dangerous, “breakneck speed” of a spiral into the Iran War, chaos, and the very real potential for nuclear war. Following Israel’s bombing of the South Pars off-shore natural gas field in the Persian Gulf which Iran shares with Qatar, Iran is retaliating in the war by attacking oil and gas facilities of neighboring Gulf states hosting U.S. military bases. This is contributing to the oil price shock that could seriously risk a blowout of the world financial system. The United States is moving ground troops into the region which could target disputed islands off the coast of Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia is threatening to join the war, but the three main actors have incompatible goals—the United States wants regime change, Israel wants total destruction of Iran, and Iran insists that the United States must leave the region and pay reparations for the damage from the war and many years of destructive sanctions. Zepp-LaRouche saw hope in the recent call by Foreign Minister of Oman Badr Albusaidi—who was in the midst of mediating U.S.-Iranian negotiations when the United States and Israel launched their “unlawful military strike” against Iran—for a meeting of all countries in the region to move towards a regional non-aggression treaty, pivoted on an agreement on developing nuclear energy, as a pathway out of the ongoing unwinnable war. China’s special envoy for Middle East affairs Zhai Jun is in the region and has been promoting a quick end to the fighting and economic development.
In Europe, Zepp-LaRouche noted the reluctance of Europeans to join the war. Europe has offered to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz, but only after the fighting ends. She also noted that Iran’s Ambassador to Germany Majid Nili Ahmadabadi has been asking about the role of the United States at the Ramstein Air Base, suggesting that Germany is complicit in the war. She spoke of Prime Minister of Japan Sanae Takaichi visiting the White House on March 19 and being subjected to a cruel joke about Pearl Harbor, when a reporter asked President Trump why the United States did not give Japan advanced warning about their intent to start the war against Iran.
Zepp-LaRouche noted that the former head of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, has said that the FBI has blocked investigations into the shooting death of prominent conservative activist Charlie Kirk, and the July 2024 assassination attempt against President Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. Kent has warned that there may be live, ongoing assassination plans against the President. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has warned that the U.S. effort to militarize and control space is a dangerous escalation. She noted that all of these events could easily go out of control, and stressed the need for negotiations, development, and a dialogue of civilizations. She also noted that Pope Leo XIV is an American and in a unique position to bring other religious leaders together to prevent a descent into barbarism.
The next speaker was Josephine Guilbeau, a 17-year U.S. Army veteran from U.S. Cyber Command and now active with the Eisenhower Media Network. Guilbeau spoke of her attendance at the Catholics For Catholics 3rd annual Catholic Prayer for America event in Washington, D.C. on March 19, where Joseph Kent spoke and received multiple standing ovations. She stressed that the USS Tripoli, with over 2,000 Marines, is just five days away from entering the theater of war, and that Americans must act now to avoid another ground war with no “off ramp.” Guilbeau called on Americans to contact their congressional representatives and send letters to the editors of major newspapers to stop the war, saying that we cannot allow Israel to drag us into another bloodbath. Zepp-LaRouche responded by stressing the importance of mobilizing other Catholics around the world to unite in opposition to the war. Guilbeau announced the Eisenhower Media Network sponsored March 26 press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., which will expose how, as in the Iraq war, contradictory or even non-existent intelligence has been used to dupe a U.S. President into the war on Iran.
Speaking next was Bassam El Hachem, a sociologist and professor at the University of Lebanon, who spoke of the delusion dominating the Trump administration that the war against Iran could be won in four or five days through decapitation. He said that this “adventure” was a failure, and it is now Iran which holds all of the cards. Iran has knocked-out the major U.S. radar systems in the region, forced the two U.S. aircraft carriers to pull back, and it controls the flow of 20% of world oil exports. Without its sophisticated radar, the United States is blind and Iran’s missiles have inflicted damage. President Trump has demanded that his “allies”—the same ones he has threatened with draconian tariffs—help him restore oil and gas shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, to little effect.
Professor El Hachem noted that at the end of 2024 Israel and Lebanon negotiated an end to the fighting, Hezbollah honored the agreement, but Israel did not: It acted unilaterally to continue the killing. The United States was negotiating with Iran, but in the middle of the negotiations the U.S. acted unilaterally and started the war. He said that there has been a media blackout, but the U.S. makes sure that Lebanon is weak, which means that Hezbollah is the only local force which can respond to this fighting.
The professor continued that for three days Israel has been preparing for a ground invasion of Lebanon, giving Hezbollah no choice but to fight. France has worked to negotiate an end to this fighting, but the professor does not expect this to work.
The final invited speaker was Diane Sare, an independent candidate for U.S. President, who asked if it were possible to end these wars without changing America? She said that only Congress can declare war, but this Congress embarrassed itself by abdicating its responsibilities, allowing the war to begin.
