It’s urgent the United States end the war with Iran quickly to save lives, stop the regional conflict and prevent a major humanitarian crisis. Diplomacy is the best hope for peace. The United States must start talks with whomever is left in charge of Iran after the U.S. and Israel launched Operation Epic Fury last week.
As the U.S. and Israel bombed military sites and leadership in Iran, there has been retaliation from Iranian forces with attacks across the region.
Hundreds of people have died already in this war including civilians and U.S. Service members. There has even been reports of more than 100 Iranian children being killed when bombs struck two schools.
The charity Save the Children “is urgently calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities to ensure the safety and well-being of children.”
A wider regional conflict puts more children in danger. With war inevitably will come hunger and displacement.
The last thing the Middle East needs is another large humanitarian crisis. Millions of people in the Middle East have been displaced by recent wars and suffer from hunger.
There are major hunger emergencies in Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and Lebanon. There is also a shortage of funding to feed the war victims. Hunger is the most powerful enemy in the Middle East as it always accompanies war.
A war with Iran means more of this suffering and will have implications for years to come. Currently, there is such low funding for humanitarian aid it would be harder to provide help to displaced civilians from war with Iran.
Much more needs to be done to end the crushing hunger and poverty in the Middle East. Another war would only add to the ranks of the hungry and displaced. Under this kind of chaos and suffering how can peace emerge?
We know that war guarantees more misery for the people of Iran and the Middle East. Diplomacy is needed to build peace and prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) need to be let back into Iran’s nuclear sites.
“The return of the inspectors will be further delayed in the midst of a potentially drawn-out conflict. Without effective monitoring, the whereabouts and security of Iran’s nuclear material will now become even more uncertain” says the Arms Control Association.
The chaos from any prolonged conflict could lead to more violence and instability. War is not the best path to peace in the Middle East. We need to stop the disaster of war from spreading and bring this conflict to a close as soon as possible.
William Lambers is the author of “The Road to Peace” and partnered with the UN World Food Program on the book “Ending World Hunger.” His writings have been published by the Washington Post, Newsweek, History News Network and many other news outlets.