Hans Von Sponeck, the former UN Assistant Secretary General and United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, will be the main speaker at the joint public meeting of Action Iran and the Campaign Against Sanctions and Military Intervention in Iran (CASMII) in London September 19, 2006. The meeting will be broadcast by the Middle East Radio.

As the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq, Hans von Sponeck provoked anger in Washington and London by calling for an end to UN sanctions on Iraq, imposed for its 1990 invasion of Kuwait. He finally resigned from his position in protest against the continuation of UN sanctions against Iraq in February 2000.

Professor Abbas Edalat, of Imperial College London and CASMII's founding member, said today: "By refusing to negotiate without any preconditions with Iran, the US is heading for a new and catastrophic military adventure in the Middle East, after the disastrous invasions and occupations of Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon. In fact, according to the Time magazine's breaking news today, the US navy has been instructed to prepare for the deployment of submarines and minesweepers in the Persian Gulf by the 1^st October, raising the prospect of a pre US November election military strike against Iran."

Other speakers of the meeting are:

Paul Ingram (British American Security Information Council)

Kamin Mohammadi (Writer and Journalist)

Mehri Honarbin-Holliday (Action Iran)

Professor Abbas Edalat (CASMII)

John Rees (Stop the War Coalition)

6:30pm Tuesday September 19th, 2006

Room 101 University of London Union, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HY

Contact: Professor Abbas Edalat (ae@imperial.ac.uk), 020 75948245 & 020 7229 2375