Imperialist Conflict Sharpens in the Middle East: Workers Must Not Side with Any Capitalist Rulers
June 24— “The Iranian regime has created shelters for bombs but not for people,” said an Iranian comrade. “Food prices have doubled overnight.”
Another worker said, “This warmongering has emptied our stomachs. This system has to go.”
“Netanyahu is getting rid of any checks on his power to establish all-out fascist tyranny,” said a comrade in Tel Aviv. “There is no way out but communist revolution.”
Israeli warplanes and drones struck key Iranian nuclear and military facilities on June 12, killing top generals and scientists.
The Zionist rulers claimed this was necessary before Iran got closer to building an atomic weapon. Experts and even the US government had assessed that Iran was not getting closer. But US President Trump crowed about “our” success.
Iran retaliated with swarms of ballistic missiles exploding over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Israel threatened to destroy residential neighborhoods in Tehran.
Trump – after lying about “negotiations”—sent US fighters to drop bunker-buster bombs on an Iranian underground nuclear site. The Iranian rulers staged a token attack on Al Udeid in Qatar, the largest and most fortified US base in the region.
All these governments lie, so it’s hard to know how much damage was done anywhere.
As we go to press, a shaky ceasefire seems to be holding. The Iranian and Israeli capitalist governments are both dominated by fascists wrapping themselves in religious garb. Both – and the imperialist US government as well – face conflicts within the ruling class. All face growing anger from the masses they oppress.
These conditions – including the expanding wars – demand a communist revolutionary response. We must build the International Communist Workers’ Party everywhere to make that revolution possible.
Energy, Oil, and Imperialist War
The US is behind Israel. China and Russia are behind Iran, which is part of the BRICS alliance. There is always a danger that this conflict could spiral toward World War III. However, both the US and Chinese imperialists seem to be preparing for that war in the Pacific, not the Middle East.
The US and Iranian rulers have fought since Iran’s US-backed Shah was overthrown in 1979. Before that, the US helped jump-start Iran’s nuclear energy program. Since then there have been decades of negotiations, inspections, threats, sanctions, and more. Nothing had changed recently.
Mideast oil is at stake. Iran holds almost 10% of the world’s petroleum reserves. It controls the strategic Strait of Hormuz. China gets 30% of its oil from Iran. But the new China-Iran railway makes it less dependent on the Strait of Hormuz. India once got most of its oil from Iran. Now it imports more from Russia.
No “Good Capitalists” or “Lesser-evil” Imperialists
Many worldwide rightfully hate US imperialism. The only ruling class that used nuclear bombs in war. That used its dominant position after World War II to overthrow regimes from Iran’s Mossadegh to Guatemala’s Arbenz and Lumumba in Congo. To super-exploit workers in Haiti, the Philippines, and more.
But that doesn’t make the Iranian rulers into heroes! They too are fascist exploiters. They are currently repressing a mass strike of truck drivers. Strikes of steel and sugar workers in 2017-18 sparked waves of anti-government protests. Same with energy and petrochemical workers’ strikes in 2020-2021. The 2022 “women-life-freedom” movement challenged Iran’s fascist rulers. We must side with the Iranian masses, not back their oppressors.
Limited wars can be useful to capitalist rulers. They can help build patriotism (nationalism) and suppress dissent. Let’s not be fooled!
Let’s answer the rulers’ nationalism and war with communist revolution. The system has to go!
