Iran's Tudeh Party has issued a sweeping condemnation of what it describes as imperialist military aggression against Iran, calling for an immediate ceasefire and a broad national front to oppose both foreign intervention and the country's ruling theocracy.
In a resolution adopted at an expanded meeting of the party's Central Committee on 17 March 2026, the Tudeh Party characterised the ongoing U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran as a war launched "under the false pretext of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons" at a time when diplomatic negotiations mediated by Oman were still underway. The document accuses most European Union governments of offering tacit approval through their silence.
According to the resolution, the military campaign has so far resulted in thousands of deaths and injuries, nearly three million internally displaced persons, and the widespread destruction of residential areas and critical infrastructure. The party singled out a U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile strike on a school in the southern city of Minab on the first day of hostilities, which it says killed 168 people — including 110 children — describing it as "a clear war crime and crime against humanity" that should be referred to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
The resolution also addresses the political fallout inside Iran. It notes that protests which erupted in late December 2025 and early January 2026 — sparked by poverty and repression — had placed the Islamic Republic in what the party called a "severe crisis of legitimacy." The war, the document argues, has now temporarily disrupted that popular momentum for democratic change, even as it has laid bare the regime's failure to defend the country despite massive military expenditure.
On the question of succession, the party describes the appointment of Mojtaba Khamenei — son of the assassinated Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei — as the new Leader of the Islamic Republic as "a heavy blow" to one of the founding ideals of the 1979 Revolution: the abolition of hereditary rule. The resolution suggests the appointment was prepared in advance by Revolutionary Guards commanders and signals the continued dominance of hardline factions.
The Tudeh Party is equally scathing toward Iranian exile opposition figures, accusing Reza Pahlavi and his media allies — including Iran International, Manoto, and BBC Persian — of encouraging the bombing campaign and demonstrating that their only path to power runs through foreign military intervention. The party draws a parallel to the 1953 CIA- and MI6-backed coup that restored Mohammad Reza Pahlavi to power by overthrowing the government of Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh.
The resolution also warns against attempts to exploit Iran's Kurdish population for destabilisation purposes, urging Kurdish political organisations to remain vigilant against what it describes as imperialist schemes to provoke armed internal conflict, while affirming solidarity with Kurdish communities long subjected to repression under the current system.
On the economic dimension, the party points to a sharp rise in crude oil prices and disruption to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz as consequences of the war that will fall most heavily on working-class populations worldwide.
In conclusion, the Tudeh Party frames ending the war as "the most urgent task of progressive and peace-loving forces of Iran and worldwide," and calls for global public opinion to be mobilised to pressure what it terms "warmongers." The party sets out conditions for national unity centred on a ceasefire, the release of political prisoners, protection of civilians and infrastructure, an end to neoliberal economic policies, equal rights for all ethnic communities, and the preservation of Iran's sovereignty and territorial integrity.