The drumbeats of war are sounding again. In a carefully choreographed series of events of increasing pace, more US naval forces, including an aircraft carrier, have been deployed into the Persian Gulf from the naval base in Bahrain.

The UN security council and the European Union have imposed some sanctions against Iran, complaints have been made to and by the International Atomic Energy Authority (IAEA), Press TV has lost its broadcasting licence in Britain and there has been a general denigration of the Islamic Republic for its military capabilities and its development of civil nuclear power.

In response to an Iranian threat that it would block the straights of Hormuz in the event of sanctions against the sales of its oil, the US, Britain and France heightened the tension by arrogantly sailing a naval flotilla through these troubled waters last weekend.

The superficial background to this is that Iran has developed a substantial civil nuclear power programme and, it is claimed, is enriching uranium to a level approaching weapons grade which would be the essential ingredient of a nuclear bomb.

There is huge debate about nuclear power around the world but, even though I am adamantly opposed to it in any form, I have to concede that Iran does have a legal right to develop civil nuclear power. Indeed this right is set out in the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which Iran is signatory to, and in the operations of the International Atomic Energy Authority.

The last nuclear NPT review conference concluded with a very strong statement in favour of a nuclear weapons-free Middle East which was supported by all nations present, including Iran and the US.

But to achieve this currently seems nigh on impossible because Israel, which possesses 200 nuclear warheads and has a delivery system capable of attacking a wide range of targets, is not a signatory of the NPT. Indeed Israel has only obliquely acknowledged its possession of such weapons.

The situation becomes ever more desperate and ever more dangerous.

Foreign Secretary William Hague made a statement in Parliament on Tuesday in response to a Tory back-bench request from arch-hawk Robert Halfon, claiming that Britain had no problem with the Iranian people but that we had to be prepared to deal with any eventuality against the Iranian government.

At no time during his statement did he show any understanding of the history of Britain's relations with Iran or the political structures that exist in Iran today.

No-one can deny that there are huge issues of human rights in Iran over the treatment of trade unionists, religious and linguistic minorities and many of those who protested about how the last presidential elections were conducted.

It should however, be acknowledged that there is a huge civil society movement in Iran, that elections are due soon and that historically Iran and its culture have been invaded, occupied and vilified by the West on many occasions.

The 1952 secular government of Mohammad Mosaddegh was removed by an Anglo-US coup which brought the Shah and his regime to power and, with it, enormous profits for BP and other oil companies.

The Islamic revolution ended the Shah's rule and robustly asserted Iranian independence.

It's a big mistake by Western military analysts to assume that all those who have legitimately criticised the regime and system in Iran actually want military intervention. The most likely effect of any military action is to unify people against a common adversary.

Throughout the Foreign Secretary's statement, no mention was made of Israel and, indeed, the most hawkish people in the House of Commons only ever refer to Israel's "security" and never its aggressive stance towards all of its neighbours.

While the West has not yet declared a military war against Iran, there is no question that the economic sanctions are having a huge effect with a rapid reduction in the value of the currency, the riel, a big price rise in consumer goods and food and increasing state security concerns.

These the security concerns are real. We have seen several months of targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and officials and a number of unexplained explosions outside garrisons and military establishments, which in effect mean that a dirty war has begun.

In response to a question from John McDonnell, Hague emphatically stated that Britain was not involved in this but declined to say who he thought might be.

Since 2001 Britain has now been involved in wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya. It has developed, along with the US, a strange view of the value of human rights around the world.

Saddam Hussein was, quite rightly condemned for abuses of human rights, as were Gadaffi and the Taliban. But the wars that followed from that narrative have not delivered civil security, human rights or protection for minorities in the countries concerned. All have suffered huge death rates as a result of the post-war chaos and disorder following Western intervention.

In the strange parallel universe of Western logic, the denial of certain human rights in Saudi Arabia is ignored, as is its occupation of Bahrain in support of its king.

Indeed, David Cameron's recent lightning visit to Saudi Arabia was, as ever, accompanied by a posse of BAE Systems arms salespeople, the better to arm Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Co-operation Council countries to become Western allies in any war against Iran or, for that matter, military intervention in Syria.

The drum beats of war are being aggressively pounded out in Europe with constant denials that Iran might be prepared to meet or negotiate. Across the Atlantic, the US Republican presidential candidates vie with each other at each primary as to who will be the first to bomb Iran and start another war.

Yet all over western Europe and the US there are increasing levels of unemployment, cuts in public expenditure and a whole generation of young people have had their hopes for the future crushed.

Political leaders all imagine that waving the flag of patriotism and war will somehow or another magic away the misery of austerity.

They are wrong. The generation that opposed the Afghan and Iraq wars in their millions is not going to stand for yet another conflict to waste resources, destroy lives and make the world an even more dangerous place.

Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North and National Chair of Stop the War Coalition.