Kampala, Uganda: President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni has finally spoken out on the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict, blaming both sides, and their historical allies, for escalating tensions in the Middle East, and urging a return to “the politics of legitimate interests.”
In a statement dated June 24, 2025, Gen Museveni, who currently serves as Chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) until 2027, outlined four categories of “mistake-makers” he believes have shaped the crisis, including Iranian Islamists, Israeli hardliners, Western imperialists, and proponents of foreign military interventions.
Responding to a complaint by the Iranian Ambassador to Uganda over Uganda’s silence, Museveni said Uganda had not yet externalized its long-held views due to the sensitivity of the conflict and Kampala’s good relations with both Israel and Iran.
The 80-year-old Ugandan leader, who has been in power for nearly four decades since 1986, first faulted Iranian Islamists, stating that their narrative denying Israel’s legitimacy in the Middle East was historically and theologically flawed.
“I told them that according to the Bible, Israel is part of that area. The United Nations was right to partition Palestine between two peoples. It was wrong for some Arabs and Iranian Islamists to reject that historical solution,” Mr Museveni wrote.
He criticized Iran’s rejection of Israel as a “transplant” state, calling it a fundamental misreading of both religious texts and global history.
The second group Mr Museveni blamed are Israeli leaders, particularly for opposing the two-state solution and disregarding Palestinian rights. “It is not correct for them to say Palestinians do not belong there. What would you say about Europeans who migrated to the Americas or Australia just 400 years ago?” he questioned, likening Israeli exclusionary narratives to Idi Amin’s expulsion of Indians from Uganda in 1972.
President Museveni’s third group of “mistake-makers” were the Western imperialists, especially the CIA, whom he accused of toppling Iran’s democratic Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh in 1953 in a bid to control Iranian oil.
“They created the resentment that gave rise to clerical rule in Iran. I was amazed they didn’t even know their own history—I had to remind them of the Persians and Medians from the Bible,” Museveni said.
Lastly, Mr Museveni condemned military interventions, especially those imposed by foreign powers, warning that force rarely resolves conflict and often produces unintended blowback. “The use of external force is not a solution; it only invites reactions. Ask the Austro-Hungarian Empire, ask the 14 powers that tried to crush the Soviet Union. Where are they now?”
Museveni said the Resistance Movement’s ideology opposes chauvinism based on race, tribe, religion, or gender, and is guided instead by the legitimate interests of stakeholders. He called for sober analysis, historical grounding, and respect for all peoples involved.
Below is President Museveni’s Full Statement
STATEMENT BY
HIS EXCELLENCY YOWERI KAGUTA MUSEVENI
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
AND CHAIRMAN OF NAM (2024- 2027)
Citizens of the World, my names are: General (Rtd) Yoweri Museveni of the Resistance Movement of Uganda and President of Uganda. I am also Chairman of the NAM until 2027. The other day, I saw a Complaint by the Iranian Ambassador to Uganda as to why we have not commented on the tragic situation in the Middle East. It is true that we have not yet externalized our long-held views on that situation. Good enough, we have got good relations with both Israel and Iran, not to forget the United States of America and the other Countries of the World.
In our long history of resistance, we abhor chauvinism of identity (race, tribe, religion, etc) or gender (looking down upon women). We always stand for the politics of interests — legitimate interests of the stakeholders.
With that outlook, we have noticed and told most of the concerned actors, the following mistake-makers:
(1) The first group that we have interacted with and told, are the Iranian Islamists. Whenever I visit Iran, like when His Excellency Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was President, I told them that their stand that Israel is a “transplant” in the Middle East and does not belong there legitimately, is a mistake. We told the Iranians that according to the Bible, Israel is part of that area. The Romans dispersed the Jews after Masada, who continued to suffer wherever they went in Europe, North Africa and Asia until they tried to go back to their homeland with the Zionist Movement. The habitual mistake makers, the British imperialists, in the person of some wonderful man known as Lord Balfour, in 1924, offered the Jews Uganda as a homeland!! Imagine the absurdity. The Jews wisely refused the ridiculous offer and insisted on Palestine where they had a historical, legitimate claim. It was, therefore, correct that the United Nations decided to partition Palestine among the two People. It has been wrong for some of the Arabs and Iranian Islamists to refuse to recognize that historical solution.
(2) The second group of mistake-makers are the Israelis themselves. Why have they refused the implementation of the two States solution? It is not correct for them to say that the Palestinians do not belong there. Whenever, I would meet Mzee Benzion Netanyahu, Netanyahu’s father, I would ask him about the 7 tribes of Canaan that we read about in the Bible — the Jebusites, etc. What happened to them? How about the Philistines of Gaza? Even if you assume that all those People perished, there are People who migrated into the area when the Romans dispersed the Jews in AD 70. You cannot say that they do not belong there. If you say that, then what would you say about the Europeans who migrated to the Americas, Australia, South Africa, etc, in just the last 400 years? This is, indeed, what Idi Amin was saying when he expelled our Indians that they did not belong to Uganda. We rejected that logic.
(3) The third mistake-makers in the matter, are the Western imperialists, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), who, in 1953, overthrew the democratically elected leader of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh because they wanted to steal the oil of Iran. It is them that created that huge resentment that produced these clerics who have their own mistaken positions. I was, indeed, amazed that they did not even know well even the history of their own Country. Imagine, me Yoweri Museveni of the Great Lakes of Africa, from the Bible, I had heard repeated references to the “Persians and Medians”, whose laws “do not change” (ebitahinduka).
When I visited Iran, I asked Ahmadinejad: “What happened and who were the Medians?” Neither Ahmadinejad nor anybody around, knew about the Medians. It was when they went to the University that they got some old man that knew something about the Medians. Fundamentalists of all types — Islamic or Christian — are a danger to humanity. We all have heard of the Inquisition of the Christian fundamentalists and we know how the Islamic fundamentalists destroyed the great Country of Sudan.
(4) Mistake number four is to believe that the use of force, especially force from outside the concerned Country, is a solution. It is not and always invites reactions that may even affect the interventionists. You want examples? Here they are: the Papacy trying to maintain Catholic hegemony in Europe; Metternich of Austria-Hungary trying to fight the bourgeois ideas of the French Revolution on the behalf of the old feudal order of Europe; the 14 intervention powers that intervened in the Soviet Union to extirpate the Communist Movement; etc. All failed and, sometimes, the interventionists ended up disappearing. You want examples? Where is the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Therefore, force should be for legitimate defence and not for aggression. We appeal and advise the actors in the Middle East to draw back from the use of force and go back to the principled diplomacy. Iran and the Islamists should listen to our advice to recognize Israel and Israel should implement the two states solution.
As I conclude, I would like to use this opportunity to remind all of us, that, we are all praying People. Perhaps it’s time that we all agree to pray together and consult that Creator that cares for all of us without preference.
May we have the willingness to humble ourselves and pray and ask for God’s wisdom, that we may do what is right in His eyes; maybe that time has come and only He has the power, the right and the Justice to decide what is the way forward for all of us.
(Signed)
Yoweri Kaguta Museveni
PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF UGANDA
AND CHAIRMAN OF NAM (2024–2027).
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