Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni has publicly accused Iran, Israel, and Western powers of contributing to the ongoing conflict between Tehran and Tel Aviv. In a five-page open letter posted on X, Museveni issued a detailed and pointed critique of each party involved, becoming one of the first African heads of state to weigh in on the situation since Israel launched airstrikes on Iranian military sites on June 12.
The letter was prompted by remarks reportedly made by Iran’s ambassador to Uganda, who questioned Museveni’s silence on the issue. In response, the Ugandan leader stated: “In our long history of resistance, we abhor chauvinism of identity (race, tribe, religion, etc.) or gender (looking down upon women).” With that perspective, Museveni said, he had identified several “mistake-makers” fueling the regional crisis.
President Museveni, who also currently chairs the 121-member Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), used his platform to emphasize neutrality and critique both regional actors and historical foreign interventionism.
He faulted Iran for refusing to recognize the state of Israel, while also criticizing Israel for its refusal to enact the long-promised two-state solution. In Museveni’s assessment, both sides are perpetuating a stalemate that continues to inflame violence and deepen geopolitical divisions.
But the Ugandan leader did not stop there. Turning to the West, he argued that “Western imperialists,” particularly the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, bear responsibility for today’s conflict by orchestrating the 1953 overthrow of Iran’s Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. That event, he argued, sowed seeds of distrust and resentment that helped bring Iran’s current theocratic regime to power.
“It is them that created that huge resentment that produced these clerics who have their own mistaken positions,” Museveni stated.
He recounted a personal anecdote to underline the dangers of holding onto historical grievances, sharing that during a past visit to Iran, he had asked then-President Ahmadinejad who the ancient Medians were, only to find that even top Iranian officials had no clear answer. The story, he implied, was illustrative of how rigid ideology and historical distortions can blind societies to pragmatic solutions.
Foreign Forces Escalate Middle East Tensions
In addition, Museveni warned against relying on external military force to resolve internal conflicts. He listed a string of failed historical interventions — from the Papacy’s religious wars in Europe to Austro-Hungarian resistance to liberal reform and Western interventions in Soviet Russia — as evidence that external force “always invites reactions that may even affect the interventionists.”
“You want examples? Where is the Austro-Hungarian Empire?” he asked rhetorically.
Museveni has called on foreign powers to withdraw from military entanglements in the Middle East, stressing that external interventions only aggravate the situation. “Mistake number four is to believe that the use of force, especially force from outside the concerned Country, is a solution,” he wrote, arguing that such strategies fail in the long term and often backfire.
With his role as chairman of the Non-Aligned Movement, an organization historically committed to neutrality and representing a significant bloc of the Global South, Museveni’s position could influence broader international conversations about the conflict. The NAM has traditionally sought to reduce the influence of global superpowers in regional disputes and foster diplomatic, non-military solutions.
As the Israel-Iran tensions continue to escalate, Museveni’s intervention represents both a critique of great power politics and a call for a return to dialogue over destruction.
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