Iran: End Capitalism’s Murder of Workers

End Capitalism’s Murder of Workers here ♦ US-Iran Rivalry here ♦

May 3: Families and residents blocked traffic at the port of Bandar Abbas to protest government cover-up of murderous conditions

Capitalist-Caused Tragedy in Bandar Abbas, Iran: Communist Workers’ Power will End Capitalism’s Murder of Workers

LOS ANGELES (USA) May 8—This May Day, workers in Iran marched with banners saying, “From the mine to the port: places of workers’ murders.”

Recently, dozens of mine workers in the Tabas and Damghan mines were killed by collapsing walls and gas leaks. Then, on April 26, 2025, the day the third round of Iran-US talks were held in Oman, a huge explosion occurred at Rajai Port in Bandar Abbas, Iran.

Rajai Port, Iran’s largest port, is on the Strait of Hormuz. The intensity of the explosion was equivalent to fifty tons of TNT. Red smoke filled the air, caused by burning nitrate or chlorate chemicals.

The coincidence of the explosion with the negotiations in Oman fueled speculation that those who wanted to stop the negotiations caused the explosion to undermine them. But government officials claim that a metal excavator collided with asphalt and sparked a fire in an area where chemical fertilizers were stored, leading to the explosion.

Many accuse Israel and the US imperialists, and even circles within the Iranian regime that are against the negotiations, for the port explosion. Both Israel and some forces in Iran want the negotiations to deadlock. The US has threatened to attack Iran if it doesn’t accept US conditions.

Capitalism’s Deadly Working Conditions

There have been dozens of industrial strikes in Iran this year, many due to unsafe working conditions. “Despite its anti-US stance, the Islamic Republic is a capitalist country,” explained an Iranian friend. “It has taken away the few reforms left from the 1979 revolution. The lack of job security, unemployment and health insurance, attacks on unions, and arrests of worker leaders mean the government is turning Iran into a capitalist paradise.”

Workers’ gatherings, organizing, and protests are met with harassment, imprisonment, torture, and state murder. Many labor leaders, teachers, and nurses are in prison.

The companies that became state-owned after the 1979 revolution were handed over cheap to members of the government mafia. These capitalists use connections with state suppression to ignore laws on workplace safety.

Whatever caused the explosion and fire at Bandar Abbas, the unsafe conditions led to many deaths and over one thousand injuries.

At least seventy people were killed, though the number is probably much greater. The careless storage of incendiary materials and the criminal disregard for the safety of these containers and human life have been such that extinguishing the fire and explosion took several days. The burnt bodies eliminated the possibility of identification or even counting the dead.

The government’s sheer lawlessness is publicly exposed. Many workers had no insurance, registration, or identity cards. Thus, many families in Hormozgan and neighboring provinces have lost their loved ones without being able to prove their presence in the workplace and without receiving insurance premiums.

The working class in Iran and around the world needs communist revolution.

Whether an industrial “accident” waiting to happen, or a deliberate attack to an unsafe area, capitalism and imperialism caused these deaths and injuries! Capitalism cannot be reformed to meet workers’ needs. The only way to end these murders of workers and the wage slavery and imperialist wars that cause them is to build a mass International Communist Workers’ Party to mobilize the masses for communist revolution.

In communism, workers’ safety and wellbeing will be primary. Communist masses will abolish wage slavery, profit, and imperialist wars. They will produce collectively for workers’ needs.

There is a long history of communist organizing in Iran. As the contradictions in Iran sharpen, the angry workers who marched on May Day can become revolutionaries. We urge readers to send this paper to friends in Iran and worldwide and to translate it into Farsi.

US-Iran Rivalry

Iran is negotiating with the United States over nuclear activity. Trump is demanding that Iran destroy its civilian nuclear program, demilitarize and destroy all its missiles, and stop supporting the “Axis of Resistance.” This is a non-starter. The US’ real purpose is to break up the China-Russia-Iran axis, and to separate Russia from China. Iran is a crucial partner that can provide the oil that China needs by land, by-passing the US-controlled Strait of Malacca in case of war. This is happening as the China-Russia-Iran axis is strengthening joint ties, building the BRICS alliance. On May 7, China sent a warship into the Persian Gulf in answer to US threats against Iran.

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