UK activists from the ‘Stop the War Coalition’ have held a day of action to speak out against war with Iran. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in 15 major cities including London, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, Bristol and Newcastle.

The coalition’s unit in Nottingham declares on its website, that the United States has always been “tempted to use its overwhelming military strength” to try to make up for its relative economic decline, exacerbated by the current crisis.

“This means that the target is shifting to Iran and Syria. There are continual calls for intervention in Syria, and the war of words with Iran continually threatens to boil over into a war of aircraft carriers and bombs in the Straits of Hormuz,” the activists say.

The protesters compare what they call “current hysteria against Iran” with 2002 debates over the invasion of Iraq. At that time they feared war against Iraq was fatally approaching and held massive demonstrations against it.