'Root cause' of US war on Iran is Iranian regime itself - Daniel Attard
Attard, an MEP, is the vice-chair of the European Parliament's Iran delegation
The root cause of the United States’ war on Iran is coming from the Iranian regime itself, Maltese MEP Daniel Attard has said.
Attard, a Labour MEP who is the vice-chair of the European Parliament’s Delegation to Iran, called for Europe to play a leading role in negotiating a diplomatic solution to the end of the conflict.
"I would rather 10 years of diplomacy than one day of war," he told BBC News on Tuesday evening.
Attard was asked for his position on the US strike against the Middle Eastern state.
“There are serious legal questions about this military operation, but we must not lose sight of where the root causes of this crisis lie. The Iranian regime has for decades destabilised the region, sponsored militias and repressed its very own people,” Attard said.
“Sovereignty cannot be used as a shield by a regime which has killed and imprisoned its own people to stay in power,” he said.
However, Attard called for “hard diplomacy” as a way to resolve the conflict.
“We (the EU) should also lead talks towards de-escalation and build a path towards a return to diplomacy, because that is always an alternative.”
On Saturday, the United States and Israel launched a wave of strikes against targets in Iranian cities, triggering explosions and columns of smoke in the country.
In retaliation, Iran has launched missiles towards Israel and several Gulf states allied with the US. Iranian missiles even hit a British base in Cyprus — an EU member state.