Leading Iranian activists and filmmakers on Monday called for an end to hostilities between Iran and Israel, urging Tehran to stop the conflict by halting its enrichment of uranium.
“We demand the immediate halt of uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic, the cessation of military hostilities, an end to attacks on vital infrastructure in both Iran and Israel, and the stopping of massacres of civilians in both countries,” said the activists in an op-ed in French newspaper Le Monde.
The signatories included Nobel Peace Prize winners Shirin Ebadi and Narges Mohammadi, as well as the winner of the top prize at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, Jafar Panahi and his fellow director Mohammad Rassoulof.
Iran’s enrichment of uranium has for decades been a cause of tension with the West and Israel, which fear the drive is aimed at making an atomic bomb, a charge denied by Tehran.
“We believe that continuing uranium enrichment and the devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime neither serves the Iranian people nor humanity at large,” said the signatories, who also included the rights activists Sedigheh Vasmaghi, Shahnaz Akmali and Abdolfattah Soltani.
“Uranium enrichment is in no way in the interest of the Iranian people. They must not be sacrificed for the nuclear or geopolitical ambitions of an authoritarian regime,” they said.
Calling on the Iranian leadership under Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to step down, they said: “The current leaders of the Islamic Republic lack the capacity to resolve Iran’s domestic crises or its external tensions.”
“The only credible path to preserve this country and its people is for current authorities to step down.”
Notably, Jafar Panahi returned to Iran last month after winning the Palme d’Or for his latest movie, “It Was Just an Accident”, but has been presenting his work this month at a film festival in Australia.
Mohammad Rassoulof, whose latest film was shown at the 2024 festival, now lives in exile after escaping clandestinely that year.
Shirin Ebadi, who won the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize, also now lives abroad, whereas Narges Mohammadi, the 2023 laureate, remains in Iran and is currently on leave for health reasons from a prison term.