A statement spearheaded by former Argentine ambassador Alicia Castro, issued before Iran and the United States agreed to a two-week ceasefire, brings together former ambassadors, scholars, and activists under the slogan “No to War” to denounce Argentina’s Middle East policy and the government’s alignment with the United States and Israel, warning of its institutional and geopolitical consequences.

The document expresses rejection of the stance taken by the government of Javier Milei regarding the conflict in the Middle East and warns of a potential break with the historical principles of Argentina’s foreign policy. The statement gathers more than twenty signatures from former Argentine diplomatic representatives, alongside Nobel Peace Prize laureate Adolfo Pérez Esquivel and human rights leaders such as Taty Almeida, among others. The signatories express “deep concern” over statements attributed to the President, the Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, and the Minister of Defense, which—according to the document—suggest the country’s involvement in a war without institutional authorization.

The seriousness is not rhetorical. Phrases such as “Iran is our enemy” or “we are going to win the war” imply, in political and legal terms, a level of commitment incompatible with Argentina’s formal status: the country is not at war and has not fulfilled the constitutional procedure required to declare one. The warning is clear: any decision of that nature requires the intervention of the National Congress, in accordance with Articles 75, subsections 22 and 25 of the Constitution. The document also denounces an automatic alignment with the United States and Israel that, lacking parliamentary backing, compromises the country’s strategic autonomy and conditions its sovereign decision-making. In this regard, it questions the Foreign Ministry’s support for military actions in the region, arguing that such positions contradict core principles of international law: the prohibition of the use of force and the obligation to resolve disputes through peaceful means. But the critique goes beyond legal concerns.

The signatories warn of a political drift: the abandonment of a diplomatic tradition grounded in non-intervention, the peaceful resolution of conflicts, and respect for state sovereignty. What is at stake is not merely a specific situation, but a shift in paradigm. Concern deepens in light of reports about a potential deployment of troops or the conduct of military exercises without legislative authorization. In this context, the statement describes as “irresponsible” those official remarks that downplay the risks of involvement in the conflict. The document also situates this shift within a broader framework: the government’s position regarding the situation in Gaza and its silence in the face of other episodes of violence in the region. Here, the denunciation becomes even sharper: this is not only a diplomatic deviation, but a possible discursive complicity with state violence. The statement concludes with a direct appeal: to Congress, to society, to Argentina’s political history. A call to reaffirm a principle that, in this context, ceases to be a slogan and becomes an urgent necessity.

Initial signatories include: Adolfo Pérez Esquivel- Alicia Castro- Jorge Taiana- Rafael Bielsa- Victorio Taccetti- Carlos Tomada- Nilda GarréGuillermo Carmona- Juliana Marino- Eduardo Valdés- Carlos Raimundi- María Cristina Perceval- Sabino Vaca Narvaja- Ariel Basteiro- María del Carmen Squeff- Oscar Laborde- Julia Perié- Patricia Vaca Narvaja- Gabriel Fucks- Eric Calcagno- Enrique Vaca Narvaja- Jorge Elbaum- Carlos Custer- Taty Almeida- Jorge RivasMaximiliano Rusconi- Hugo "Cachorro" Godoy- Atilio Borón- Víctor Hugo Morales- Cynthia García- Claudio Lozano- Ramon Torres Molina- Eduardo Barcesat- Carlos Rozanski- Rafael Klejzer- Stella Calloni- Rocco Carbone- Ernesto Alonso- Mario Volpe - Edgardo Esteban- María Eva Koutsovitis- Jonatan Baldivieso- Alejandro Olmos Gaona -Paula Klachko (Red de Intelectuales y Artistas en Defensa de la Humanidad, Capítulo Argentino) - Beverly Keene (Dialogo 2000, Jubileo Sur Argentina)