Iranian Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi has long fought for freedom and human rights, even at the expense of her own. With her country now at war with Israel, Mohammadi called on her fellow activists to band together and call for a ceasefire.
In an exclusive message to TIME from Iran, Mohammadi said that the outbreak of war, which began in the early morning of June 13, has forced millions of Iranians to leave their homes and caused damages to “critical national infrastructure,” compounding an economic crisis its citizens already bore the brunt of. Mohammadi herself has left Tehran.
“The scale of destruction already resembles that of a months-long conflict,” Mohammadi writes.
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Mohammadi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2023 for her women’s rights advocacy in Iran. She is known for helping imprisoned activists, leading a campaign against the death penalty, and openly criticizing the Iranian regime’s use of torture and sexualized violence.
She has been arrested several times for her work, and sentenced to more than 36 years. Mohammadi was in prison when she became the Nobel Prize recipient in 2023, but she was furloughed in December 2024 for medical reasons.
Mohammadi called on other Nobel laureates “to use all your individual, collective, and institutional capacities to amplify the call of ‘No to War’ and support our urgent plea for a ceasefire and an end to this war.”
Earlier, Mohammadi told the BBC that she could possibly return to prison for speaking publicly against the war, but she said she’s “not worried.” Mohammadi, alongside fellow Nobel laureate Shirin Ehbadi and other prominent Iranian voices, wrote an op-ed earlier this week demanding a halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment program and an end to the attacks.
Israel launched an attack on Iran saying it intends to stop the country from achieving the capability of producing a nuclear weapon. Hundreds are believed to have been killed in the strikes on Iran, which has retaliated by firing missiles into Israel, killing at least 24.
Read Mohammadi’s full statement below.
To the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Human Rights Orgs, people of the world peace lovers,
I urge you to take action to stop the war between Israel and the Islamic Republic of Iran.
Six days have passed since the beginning of this horrific war. The violence is accelerating at a devastating pace, and the scale of destruction already resembles that of a months-long conflict.
The growing fear that Israel may attack the Islamic Republic’s nuclear facilities adds terrifying uncertainty to the war. Millions of Iranian citizens have fled their homes. Amid crushing economic hardship and soaring inflation, they are unable to afford basic daily expenses and have sought refuge in other cities.
The targeting of critical national infrastructure, the rising number of casualties, and the threat to evacuate the capital, Tehran, are deeply alarming.
I call on you—Nobel Peace Prize laureates—to use all your individual, collective, and institutional capacities to amplify the call of “No to War” and support our urgent plea for a ceasefire and an end to this war.
Let us rise together to form a united, global front for the right to peace. The scope of war expands by the day. Its fire will not remain confined to the lands directly involved—it will cross borders and engulf the entire world.
War casts a dark shadow over humanity’s future—a darkness that cannot easily be erased from the eyes of humankind.
Let us stand together—loudly, clearly—for peace and for an end to war.
I demand an immediate halt to the war and the declaration of a ceasefire.
— Narges Mohammadi
18th June 2025
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