TEHRAN – The Iranian cinema, theater, and music guilds have written an open letter calling on artists around the world to protest against the joint attacks by the U.S. and Israel on Iran.

According to ISNA, in the letter titled “The Duty of an Artist Is Not Just to Observe!” it is stated: 

“Artists, thinkers, scientists, and peace lovers around the world, on the threshold of a new millennium, hoped that wise people would become happier in this new era by avoiding war”.
  
“However, the bad news is that despite increasing desire for peace and dialogue among wise people, the inclination toward war for gaining new resources and interests by the evil empire has brought the world to the brink of disaster”.

“If ancient empires sought political-military domination over numerous nations with distinct land and cultural identities, today the evil empire doesn't settle for 10, 20, or 30 nations. It seeks to control the entire world; from Latin America to Greenland, from the Gaza coast to Iran’s ancient land, which was the first civilization to teach the world governance systems, to draft the first Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and to teach respect for human beings”.

“Today, however, a war is being imposed upon the Iranian nation by the US and the Zionist regime, without any legal justification”.

“In this military conflict, all conventions and international agreements are disregarded. Schools, hospitals, and historical and cultural sites are redefined as military targets, and any crime is justified under the pretext of ‘striking the regime’.”
  
“Aren’t the children who went to school on the morning of February 28 and never returned at least a small part of ‘humanity’? What is our definition of ‘crime’?”

“We, the Iranian cultural-artistic community, are deeply astonished as we watch the global silence in face of this chaos and the duality of crime and concealment!”

“The war launched by the evil empire against the Iranian nation will not be its last. If, hypothetically, they succeed in winning this war, they will immediately target the next goals.”

“If you do not act today to defend the oppressed, it will be too late tomorrow.”

The U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28 and have so far martyred over 1,000 people including the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and several military commanders as well as civilians, among them women and children.

On the first day of the attack, the Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Hormozgan Province, became the site of a devastating massacre. While dozens of girls and boys aged between 7 and 12 were beginning their lessons, the school was targeted by a missile strike that caused the building to collapse, trapping children and teachers beneath the rubble. Iranian authorities confirmed a final death toll of 185 people, with about 100 others wounded.

Iran and the U.S. had agreed to attend a fourth round of nuclear talks in Vienna, following their most serious discussions in Geneva. However, the U.S. derailed diplomatic negotiations with Iran just like the previous time in June 2025, launching a bombing campaign against Iran in conjunction with Israel.

The attacks prompted a swift response from the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC), with missile and drone launches targeting Israel and several U.S. bases in the region, occurring less than two hours after the strikes, which have been intensified in recent days.

SS/