
On the night of Thursday, June 12th, Israel launched missile attacks and air raids on Iran, attacking nuclear enrichment facilities, military command centers, and residential areas housing Iranian officials. The attacks killed 78 and injured over 300. Among those that were killed were the lead negotiator in talks with the Trump administration, key leaders within the Iranian military, top nuclear scientists and dozens of civilians, including children. The attacks come at the end of the 60-day period the United States had imposed in which to negotiate a new nuclear deal with Iran. Just hours before the attacks, the U.S. made an announcement that another round of negotiations were to begin June 15th.. These negotiations and “peace talks” were clearly meaningless theater to give Israel a cover to carry out their surprise attacks.
In the days since this attack, Iran has retaliated and has fired hundreds of ballistic missiles at Israel. While most of the missiles have been intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system, dozens have gotten through and struck major cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa, killing at least 10 and injuring dozens if not hundreds. The tit-for-tat exchanges of missile and drone attacks have continued since.
Israel’s attack on Iran threatens to plunge the entire region into a massive conflict after over 20 months of genocidal slaughter against – and now barbaric mass starvation of – Palestinians in Gaza. Israel also continues its campaign of colonization in the West Bank, its bombing attacks on Yemen, and its occupation of parts of Lebanon and Syria.
Not only is Israel’s attack an extremely dangerous provocation to regional war, it’s worth mentioning that attacking nuclear facilities is purposely reckless and can lead to much larger explosions, radioactive leaks and long term contamination that could affect millions.
Israel claims that this attack was “preemptive” in that it was anticipation of an imminent attack by Iran. Lies!
There is not a shred of evidence that suggests that Iran was preparing an attack on Israel. Even U.S. intelligence, which has heavily monitored Iran for decades, has not found or presented any evidence that an attack by Iran was imminent.
Israel claims that Iran is days away from possessing nuclear weapons. Lies!
For over 30 years, Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli leaders have held out the boogeyman about Iran’s nonexistent bomb as a way to build up a case for a military attack. Even U.S. military assessments continue to reaffirm that there is no evidence that Iran is working on a nuclear bomb, just as has been the case for the past three decades. As recently as March 25th, Donald Trump’s own director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, testified that Iran was not actively pursuing a nuclear weapon.
In fact, there is one country in the Middle East that has nuclear weapons and is in flagrant violation of international law: Israel!
None of this – the extermination campaign in Gaza, colonization of the West Bank, the attacks on Yemen, Lebanon, Syria and now Iran – would be possible without the massive military and diplomatic support of the United States. While figures like President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio initially tried to distance themselves from this attack, there should be no question that the United States has been behind the attack on Iran the entire time. Three days before the attack, the United States sent 300 Hellfire missiles to Israel. In addition, the U.S. preemptively removed personnel from bases throughout the region.
At this point, they don’t even pretend to have any distance from Israel’s attack. Trump has since openly acknowledged in an interview with the New York Post that, “I always knew the date…Because I know everything…I gave [Iran] 60 days and they didn’t meet it. Today is day 61”, he added, referring to 13 June.”
As the conflict between Israel and Iran rapidly escalates, Trump has come out with bombastic statements such as threatening Iran with retaliation, “…at levels never seen before…”.
We must be clear: the United States and Israel are the threats to peace in the region and the world. Not only do they carry out the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people, they both threaten to drag the world into an even more catastrophic regional conflict, potentially even nuclear war.
In face of this clear act of aggression, the Iranian people have every right to defend themselves. For decades, they have been victims of imperialist aggression – the same imperialist aggression that continues to savagely oppress the Palestinian people. Unfortunately the people are not represented by the regime.
While the regime in Tehran may be a thorn in the side of imperialist powers since it took control in 1979, we must recognize that it is also a repressive theocratic state that doesn’t represent the will of the working class, poor and oppressed in Iran. It is a reactionary Islamist regime that not only oppresses the poor and working class, it actively and viciously suppresses the rights of women and minorities. While we can support the Iranian people, that doesn’t mean we support their rulers.
We stand in solidarity and in defense of the people of Iran and all those who are victims of imperialist aggression. But this cannot be done by looking to reactionary capitalist governments, whether in Iran or elsewhere. Only the independent power of working-class people united across borders has the potential to bring these horrors to an end.
Those of us in the United States have a particular responsibility to speak out against these assaults. We must stand up against the current attacks on Iran and all of the other crimes that Israel and the United States are carrying out in the region. But we must also fight against this system of capitalism and the governments that maintain it. It is that system that inflicts a permanent state of war on humanity!