TEHRAN: Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi warned the West yesterday against launching a military attack against Iran or imposing economic sanctions over its contested nuclear program.
“We not only are against military action on Iran but are also against economic sanctions,” Ebadi said in a speech in Tehran.
“They would spread destitution in Iran and we will do our best to prevent this disaster occurring,” the 2003 Nobel Prize winner said, according to a transcript of her speech.
Her address marked the formation of “National Peace Council” of around 70 Iranian politicians, social activists and intellectuals. The list of people who signed on as founding members of the council included figures like Ibrahim Yazdi, head of the outlawed but tolerated Freedom Movement and Hashem Aghajari.
Also included is the film director Jafar Panahi, winner of the top prizes at the Berlin and Venice film festivals and Iran’s leading female filmmaker Rakhshan Bani Etemad.
“We must have a society with a sustainable peace and we should avoid being in a situation where there is no war but also no peace,” Ebadi said.
