While the regime of the ayatollahs tries to drown the popular uprising in blood, the imperialist powers, Zionism and the remnants of the old monarchy are lurking to hijack the anger of the masses for their own interests. On the international level, a Trump crossed by internal conflicts applies a “stick and carrot” policy. It is necessary to support the mobilizations and the independent organization of the working people against their oppressors and to reject imperialist aggressions.
By Ruben Tzanoff
Violent repression and digital siege
The new wave of protests in Iran has been raging for more than ten days. The spark, ignited by accumulated anger with the high cost of living, the absence of democratic freedoms and systemic oppression, has turned into an open challenge to the fundamentalist and reactionary regime of the ayatollahs. The streets of the main cities have been filled with workers, youth and women who, overcoming fear, confront the security forces.
The technological disconnection, imposed by means of a widespread and almost absolute digital blackout, has not been able to extinguish the deep and widespread social discontent. Although the regime tries to hide the magnitude of the protests and repression, images of mobilizations, pickets and clashes continue to leak. There are no confirmed figures, but non-governmental organizations report more than 500 fatalities (overwhelmingly civilians, although also some repressors), thousands of wounded and detained.
Monarchist remnants and Netanyahu’s opportunism
In this scenario, figures such as Reza Pahlevi, heir to the Shah, reappear, trying to present himself from exile as a supposed “liberating” alternative. The old monarchy, responsible for decades of oppression at the service of foreign capital, today seeks to capitalize on the mass discontent. However, the Iranian people are not fighting to return to the golden palaces of the Shah or to imperialist subordination, but for a true emancipation that no monarchical restoration can offer. From the State of Israel, Netanyahu pushes for the US to apply a “Maduro-like endgame” in Iran: an attack to provoke the collapse of the government and facilitate a regime change alligned to its interests.
The shadow of the Pentagon: a new attack on Iran?
The US has warned that it is evaluating the possibility of a new direct attack against Iran. The options being considered by the Pentagon range from “surgical strikes” to a large-scale intervention. For US imperialism, the protests do not represent a cry for freedom as it would have the world believe, but an opportunity to eliminate or weaken a regional competitor and secure control of oil and politics in the Middle East. A foreign intervention would only reinforce the nationalist discourse of the Khamenei regime, providing it with excuses to crush domestic protest under the banner of “national defense”.
Trump´s “carrot and stick” and world disorder
In the run-up to the direct aggressions against Iranian nuclear facilities, the Trump administration deployed distracting maneuvers aimed at confusing both international public opinion and the Persian military command and finally attacked. These facts make it necessary not to rule out a new attack on Iran, more so since Trump has resumed his threatening rhetoric without abandoning negotiations, because “carrot and stick” are part of the same imperialist policy of domination. In this framework, his entourage maintains that Iran “is calling to negotiate”, insinuating the search for a new pact.
Trump’s aggressions, which are part of his attempt to regain imperialist hegemony in the dispute with other powers, particularly China; the attack on Venezuela and the reissue of the Monroe Doctrine, which considers Latin America as his “backyard” to control, are part of this framework. For the moment, rather than a “new world order” Trump is provoking a great disorder with more wars, rebellions, mobilizations and confrontations. It is necessary to stop Trump’s arrogance with mobilization and united struggle, so that he does not believe he is the unchallenged master of the world.
Middle East in permanent escalation
The region continues to be caught in a spiral of violence and instability driven by imperialism, Zionism and fundamentalist regimes. In Palestine, the agreement signed between the US and Israel has been systematically violated: more than 400 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank despite the “cease-fire”, Phase 2 -which would imply a partial withdrawal and reconstruction work- is delayed and the aggression deepens. In Lebanon, according to the UN, Israel has violated the truce with Hezbollah on at least 10,000 occasions. In Syria, the Damascus government, with the endorsement of the Turkish regime, launched an offensive on Aleppo, blocking the integration of Kurdish militias and deepening aggressions against national and religious minorities.
The International Socialist League (ISL) reaffirms the politics expressed in the statement “In solidarity with the popular protests in Iran”:
* Support for the Iranian working people, youth and women fighting for social and democratic rights against the ayatollahs’ regime. Unconditional support for the protests against the repressive theocracy. Stop the repression and assassinations. Free all imprisoned for protesting.
* Rejection of monarchical restoration: Reza Pahlevi and his entourage are enemies of the people. No return to the imperial tyranny of the 1970s is possible.
* Imperialist hands off: we denounce the attack plans of the United States and Israel. Any foreign intervention is an attack on the self-determination of the Iranian people.
* For a workers’ and popular solution: no solution will come from Washington nor from the barracks in Tehran. Only the independent organization of the masses, the workers councils and their own power can put an end to religious oppression and capitalist exploitation.
*For a free, secular and socialist Iran! Against the regime, imperialism and Zionism! US, Israel and their accomplices out of the Middle East!
