The 145th consecutive online weekly meeting of the International Peace Coalition (IPC) on Friday, March 13, 2026, featured a surprise guest: Ambassador Abolfazl Pasandideh who represents the Islamic Republic of Iran in Mexico. This was a unique opportunity for people who live in an environment dominated by war propaganda, to hear an unfiltered message from the nation the U.S. government is attacking.
Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Schiller Institute founder and IPC initiator provided an update. She posed the question: Why did U.S. President Donald Trump start this war? Reportedly, it was Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of State/National Security Advisor Marco Rubio, U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and the President’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who convinced Trump that Iran was on the verge of attacking U.S. forces or bases. She noted that we have reached a new phase in neocon aggression, typified by targeted eliminations of heads of state, such as the kidnapping of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro or the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. She added that this situation can still escalate to nuclear war, citing an editorial in The Hill by Harlan Ullman, senior adviser at the Atlantic Council, who bills himself as the principal author of the doctrine of shock and awe. Ullman suggests that the United States nuke Iran as the only way to achieve the requisite shock and awe. Zepp-LaRouche also reported on her March 9 Letter to Pope Leo XIV, calling on him to intervene in the spirit of Nicholas of Cusa’s dialogue, De Pace Fidei. It has come to her attention that a ranking Shiite cleric from Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Mostafa Mohaghegh Damad Ahmadabadi, has issued a similar appeal to the Pope. She concluded by saying, “The danger to humanity, in my view, has never been more grave than right now.”
Ambassador Abolfazl Pasandideh spoke next, called the present war “one of the most irrational wars in history … a betrayal of diplomacy. For the second time, we were attacked in the middle of negotiations.… It was a blatant symbol of the use of power in the place of international law.” It was expected that the internet would usher in an age of humanism, he said, but instead, racists and radical nationalists have successfully exploited the internet. On the topic of the neocon “regime change” agenda, he said, “It is not clear who will be next after Iran—Mexico or China?” He ended on an optimistic note: “With the pen and the word, it is possible to neutralize the effects of guns.”
Zepp-LaRouche described the motives of the IPC for inviting the Iranian ambassador: We have observed the discrepancy between reality and the narrative being promoted by Western sources. She recalled the declaration by U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, that the United States had intentionally engineered the collapse of the Iranian economy in order to trigger regime change, and referred also to Trump’s former Director of the CIA in his first administration Mike Pompeo’s tweet about the Mossad agents accompanying each Iranian demonstrator.
Former President of Guyana (2011-2015) Donald Ramotar conveyed to the Ambassador his admiration for the tenacity and courage of the Iranian people in the face of the attempts to destroy their nation. For some time now, he said, there has been an effort to destroy international institutions and international law. Iran is under attack because it is the only country standing up for the Palestinians, and because it is the main obstacle to Israel’s efforts to reshape the Middle East. Iran’s fight is also a fight for Cuba, which is now under “almost unbearable” economic pressure in a similarly mad attempt to incite regime change.
Pasandideh said that he wished to thank Zepp-LaRouche for going to the “roots of this problem.” He thanked Ramotar for his expression of solidarity.
Father Harry Bury, a Catholic priest for 70 years, a lifelong peace activist, and active in the Twin Cities Nonviolent and the U.S. Catholic Priest Association, spoke, saying “Our hearts are breaking, truly breaking, at what is happening to Iran. Jesus said that we are to love our enemies!” He stressed that history has shown us that violence does not resolve problems. He reiterated his endorsement of the Oasis Plan and the BRICS as an exemplary approach to peace. He asked all participants to add their names to Zepp-LaRouche’s open letter to the Pope.
Pasandideh responded by saying that Bury’s beautiful words had touched his heart. He offered his view that Donald Trump is hiding behind religion, and this is an aggression against all religions.
Jack Gilroy, of Veterans for Peace, Pax Christi-Upstate NY, and Pax Christi International, commented on the contrast between what Father Bury is saying, and the endorsement of violence by the Christian Zionists. The stance of the Christian Zionists flies in the face of the nonviolent message of Christ and the Jewish commitment to justice.
