DeepL-translation

U.S. imperialism and Zionist Israel have been preparing an attack on Iran for a long time. The military deployments that have been ongoing for weeks—aircraft carriers, air defense systems, and the reinforcement of military bases in the region—were preparations aimed at deliberately turning the Middle East into a war zone once again. With U.S. military bases in the Gulf, Israel’s offensive capabilities, and logistical support from allied regimes in the region, Iran was gradually encircled and effectively trapped within a military ring. As a result of these preparations, an attack on Iran was launched.

The so-called diplomatic initiative by the U.S. toward Iran was not a compromise, but an open demand for surrender, due to the conditions imposed at the negotiating table. Iran was demanded to abandon its nuclear program, eliminate its missile capabilities that could strike Israel, cease support for its proxy forces in the region, and open its energy resources to imperialist monopolies. When these demands were rejected, “diplomacy” was set aside and the option of war was activated.

Today, from the perspective of Western imperialists, Iran is viewed as an “uncontrollable” actor. The problem is neither Iran’s rhetoric nor the nature of the regime; the real problem is that Iran is crossing the boundaries drawn by Western imperialist centers. The development of the mullah regime’s military capabilities, its regional moves without the consent of Western powers, as well as its claim to full sovereignty over energy resources and close cooperation with China and Russia have made Iran a direct target. Therefore, “control over Iran” is considered a strategic necessity from the perspective of the U.S. and Israel.

The U.S. and Israel aim to break Iran’s regional military capacity. In particular, they demand that Iran cease its support for proxy forces in countries such as Yemen, Lebanon, and Iraq that are allied with or under the influence of the mullah regime. This axis is viewed in the Middle East as a line of resistance that challenges Israel’s security as well as the U.S.’s military-political dominance. Therefore, the attack is directed not only against Iran itself, but also against its regional sphere of influence.

Another fundamental reason for the war launched against Iran is the energy issue. Bringing Iran’s oil resources under imperialist control is a strategic priority for the U.S. An Iran that seeks full sovereignty over its own resources is viewed as an uncontrollable actor on the global energy market. That is why—regardless of its nuclear program, missile capabilities, and regional influence—Iran’s economic independence is also being directly targeted.

The Shiite mullah regime, which came to power in 1979, does not represent the working class and the working people, but rather a religious, repressive, and reactionary apparatus of rule. The mullah regime relies on religious dogma, coercive mechanisms, and systematic oppression. The open, terrorist elimination of the political opposition, as well as the destruction of freedom of association and freedom of expression, have been fundamental aspects of its rule since the regime’s founding.

The mullah regime opposed the working class and working people. Strikes were banned, and union activities were suppressed. By using religious ideology as an instrument of rule, the mullah regime sanctified exploitation and portrayed poverty as fate. The pressure on women became one of the regime’s most visible fascist features. Compulsory veiling, exclusion from public life, and control over bodies and lives are part of the regime’s ideological control mechanism. Young people, students, and ethnic and religious minorities are also targets of this apparatus of oppression. State violence is one of the fundamental pillars supporting the regime’s survival.

The mullah regime does not pursue a policy of liberating the peoples of the Middle East, but rather an expansionist strategy aimed at extending its own sphere of influence. This expansionist policy has been built along sectarian lines. The quest for regional influence has been attempted to be legitimized through the discourse of “resistance.” The mullah regime pursues a sectarian and reactionary policy that deepens hostilities between peoples.

The mullah regime is not anti-imperialist. Despite its anti-imperialist rhetoric, this regime focuses not on the liberation of the peoples, but on the maintenance of its own power. Instead of making a genuine break with imperialism, the mullah regime navigates periodic tensions and negotiations and, when necessary, seeks avenues for understanding with imperialist centers. In doing so, it often turns its opposition into a propaganda tool intended to legitimize repression at home. Anti-imperialism requires the struggle of the peoples for freedom and equality; a repressive, exploitative, and sectarian regime cannot represent such a line.

The war that began in the Middle East on February 28 is a regional power struggle between small and large predators. This war is neither a struggle for freedom nor does it represent the interests of the peoples; it is a reactionary war from start to finish. The attack by Zionist Israel and U.S. imperialism on Iran will bring about nothing but plunging the region even deeper into bloodshed, destruction, and instability. That is why we openly and clearly reject this attack on Iran.

Even though the main target of this war is portrayed as the mullah regime, in reality it is the people of Iran who bear the brunt of the damage. In a country of some 90 million people, the entire burden of the war will be placed on the shoulders of workers, laborers, women, and children. Bombs do not strike the regime, but cities; sanctions do not paralyze those in power, but the lives of the people. Destroyed homes, disrupted electricity and water supplies, a collapsing healthcare system, rising poverty, and forced migration are the true toll of the war. As always, the people will pay the price for imperialist calculations.

Our rejection of the attack on Iran does not mean that we defend the mullah regime. On the contrary, the repressive, reactionary, and anti-worker nature of this regime is plain to see. Yet no imperialist or reactionary power has the right to decide the future of a people with bombs. What is to happen in Iran and what political system will emerge there can be decided solely by the people of Iran.

Those collaborators who today call for imperialist intervention to overthrow the mullah regime, view it favorably, or portray it as such, are not defending the interests of the people, but the interests of the imperialists.

The war in the Middle East is not a war of the peoples, but a war of the ruling classes. While imperialism and Zionism attack to bring the region under their control, the mullah regime drives the peoples into the fire to preserve its own power. In this reactionary war, our position is clear: neither imperialist aggression nor reactionary regimes. The fate of the peoples of Iran will not be determined by bombs, but by their own organized struggle. Liberation lies in the struggle against imperialism on an independent line and against reaction on a revolutionary line under the leadership of the working class. The mullah regime will not be brought down by external attacks, but by a revolutionary struggle arising under the leadership of the working class and the working people, organized in a communist party. The liberation of the peoples lies neither in the missiles of imperialism nor in the false slogans of resistance from reactionary regimes.