The Schiller Institute’s International Peace Coalition (IPC) convened its 145th weekly meeting on Friday amid intensifying conflict in Southwest Asia, with participants warning that the war involving Iran risks triggering a wider global confrontation and destabilizing the international order.

Speakers at the online forum, titled “Be Determined to Stop the Unthinkable!”, included Schiller Institute founder Helga Zepp-LaRouche, Iranian Ambassador to Mexico Mohammad Hassan Pasande, former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar, Catholic priest and peace activist Father Harry Bury, and several other analysts and campaigners. The discussion centered on the geopolitical and humanitarian consequences of the conflict, which participants described as one of the most dangerous crises in decades.

Moderating the event, Schiller Institute organizer Anastasia Battle opened the session by recalling the founding purpose of the International Peace Coalition. The forum, she said, was created “to unite the international peace movement to bring people together of many different philosophies, religions, nationalities, cultures in order to accomplish true peace in the world.”

Battle emphasized the need for dialogue among diverse viewpoints. “If we’re actually going to make this happen,” she said, “we have to have a dialogue process amongst each other, coordinate our activities and come to a higher truth amongst all of our friends, even if they’re friendly enemies.”

“We are now entering the third week of a war against Iran”

Opening the strategic discussion, Zepp-LaRouche described the ongoing hostilities as a dangerous turning point in global politics.

“We are now entering the third week of the war against Iran,” she said. “This is an unprovoked war of aggression.”

According to Zepp-LaRouche, the stated objective of regime change in Tehran had clearly failed. “The goal of regime change in Iran clearly has not been accomplished. There is no victory in sight.”

She pointed to intelligence assessments that had warned in advance that military action was unlikely to succeed. “There was a classified national intelligence report in the United States published a week before the 28th of February which stated that even a large-scale assault would not lead to regime change in Iran,” she said.

Despite such warnings, she argued, the decision to launch the attack was pushed forward by key figures in Washington. Zepp-LaRouche said US President Donald Trump himself indicated that he had been persuaded by advisers including Pete Hegseth, Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

Rubio, she added, had publicly justified the strike with what she called “a completely strange logic.” According to Zepp-LaRouche, Rubio argued that because Israel was preparing to attack Iran and Tehran would retaliate, the United States therefore needed to launch a preemptive strike.

“So what is the situation?” Zepp-LaRouche asked. “We are in a complete strategic mess as a result.”

“We are plunging into a lawlessness where international law no longer exists”

Zepp-LaRouche warned that the conflict reflects a broader erosion of international norms.

“This is clearly a new phase,” she said. “The targeted elimination, through kidnappings or assassinations of elected leaders of state, is a sign of a plunge into lawlessness.”

She cited incidents including the alleged kidnapping of Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro and the assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, which she said symbolized the breakdown of the international legal order.

“We are plunging into a lawlessness where international law is officially declared non-existent anymore,” she said.

Zepp-LaRouche also warned that the military campaign could escalate rapidly if strategic bombing fails to achieve its objectives. She referred to an article by Atlantic Council adviser Harlan Ullman that suggested only nuclear weapons had historically forced surrender through bombing.

“He wrote that strategic bombing has never achieved its goal except once in history, with Hiroshima and Nagasaki,” she said. “And therefore, if Trump wants to force Iran to surrender, only nuclear weapons could produce that shock and awe.”

The implications, she warned, are catastrophic.

“That could have consequences for an escalation spiral in no time,” Zepp-LaRouche said. “The danger that we may end up with the extinction of humankind has never been as great as right now.”

“This war was a betrayal of diplomacy”

Iran’s ambassador to Mexico, Mohammad Hassan Pasande, told the forum that Tehran considers the conflict both illegal and unjustified.

“Since February 28, Iran has been the victim of an unfair and unequal war,” Pasande said.

“This war has crossed several human boundaries.”

Pasande said the attack occurred while negotiations were underway, calling it “a betrayal of diplomacy.”

“For the second time we were attacked in the middle of negotiations,” he said.

He argued that the military action violated the foundations of the post-World War II international system.

“It was a mockery of the Charter of the United Nations,” Pasande said. “The UN Charter was written after the deaths of tens of millions of people to prevent pointless wars.”

Instead of international law, he said, “force and power” had replaced diplomacy and multilateralism.

“It replaced multilateralism with unilateralism,” Pasande told participants.

“Iran has become a bastion of resistance”

Pasande warned that the outcome of the conflict could shape the global balance of power.

“Today Iran has become a bastion of resistance,” he said. “If Iran is also taken, resistance against coercion and unilateralism will collapse like a row of dominoes.”

He cautioned that other nations could face similar pressure if Iran were defeated.

“It is not clear who will be next after Iran,” Pasande said. “Mexico or China.”

Silence in the face of military aggression, he argued, would endanger the international community.

“Silence in the face of this aggression will make life more difficult for the people of the world.”

Pasande also criticized what he described as a dominance of hostile narratives against Iran.

“We had already become victims of narrative building before becoming victims of F-35 and B-2 warplanes,” he said.

“Iran is fighting for the survival of the Middle East”

Former Guyanese President Donald Ramotar expressed solidarity with Iran and praised the country’s resilience under attack.

“I would like to tell the people of Iran how much we admire their tenacity and the courage that they are showing in the face of this unprovoked attack,” Ramotar said.

He recalled earlier attacks on Iranian leadership figures, including the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and the killings of Iranian scientists.

“I cannot think of another country that has faced such repeated attacks on its leadership,” he said.

Ramotar argued that the broader geopolitical objective was control of the Middle East.

“Iran is seen as the main obstacle to Israel controlling the entire Middle East,” he said. “It is also seen as the main obstacle to the United States controlling the resources in that region.”

For that reason, he said, Iran’s struggle has wider significance.

“Iran is fighting a battle not only for its own survival but for the struggle of the peoples of the whole Middle East.”

“Violence is not the answer to peace”

Catholic priest and long-time peace activist Father Harry Bury framed the crisis in moral and religious terms.

“Our hearts are breaking at what is happening to Iran,” Bury said. “The action of Israel and the United States attacking Iran is not only crazy, it is immoral.”

Drawing on Christian teachings, he rejected the idea that military force could achieve peace.

“Violence is not the answer to peace,” he said. “Violence has been an act of vengeance, not an act of love.”

Quoting the teachings of Jesus, he added: “We are to love our enemies. Bombing them is not a way of doing good.”

Bury urged participants to support a peace initiative promoted by the Schiller Institute, including an open letter addressed to Pope Leo XIV calling for religious leaders to intervene.

“The world must return to multilateralism”

In his closing remarks, Ambassador Pasande warned that the world risked repeating the mistakes that led to global war in the twentieth century.

“When unilateralism grows stronger, we remember what happened before the First and Second World Wars,” he said. “Nazism and fascism emerged, and almost 80 million people were killed.”

He argued that the principles established after World War II are now under threat.

“Today we see that the norms written into the United Nations Charter are not being respected,” Pasande said.

He also raised concerns about attacks on cultural heritage and civilian infrastructure during the conflict.

“Why should civilians have to breathe poisoned air from attacks on oil facilities?” he asked. “Why attack historical areas that belong to all humanity?”

Ultimately, he said, restoring peace requires rebuilding the international system around cooperation.

“What has been lost today in the world is peace,” Pasande said. “God has not created us to be in conflict and kill one another.”

“If we return to multilateralism, we will find a world that is more positive and beneficial for all.”