Defend Iran Against U.S./Israel

The U.S. has bombed Iran, and Trump threatens far greater death and destruction. Clearly, this country’s rulers will stop at nothing in order to force the complete submission of a sovereign nation to their grand designs of renewed world domination. Trump is not just some dupe of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but the Commander-in-Chief of the most powerful ruling class on the planet eager to re-assert itself at everyone else’s expense. The U.S. rulers have pulled the trigger on war not simply to aid their strategic partner in the Middle East in crushing the Iranians, but above all to mow down any and all opposition to themselves—foreign and domestic. If they suffer no consequences for their brazen aggression, it will be very bad news for all of us. Palestinians will face further devastation; the rest of the Global South will be even more aggressively squeezed; workers, black people and immigrants in the U.S will have to contend with even harsher attacks.

Many workers took as good coin Trump’s promises to not drag the country into “forever wars” like the Democrats have done and instead to provide some relief for their economic pain. But make no mistake: Workers will pay the price for his warmongering, not only in the form of increased economic misery, but also by sacrificing their very lives in combat—and those of their children. Many other workers feared just such a turn of events under a second Trump presidency and have kept their heads down to protect themselves and their families. But the only real measure of protection against the tidal wave of attacks washing over us is collective working-class action—in particular, that which links our defense to the defense of Iran against the common U.S. imperialist enemy. Workers and the oppressed here have every reason to take up the defense of Iran. Trump has already demonstrated that he will deploy the military domestically, such as in Los Angeles against anti-ICE protesters, among them union officials. Any setback for the U.S. rulers in the Middle East will make it easier to head off their offensive at home.

The war against Iran needs to be stopped immediately. But the only way to actually accomplish this is to organize the working class to actively take up the defense of Iran—including by engaging in determined anti-imperialist action like refusing to produce or handle military goods for the war effort. No substantial opposition will be forthcoming from Democratic quarters. Even “progressives” like AOC and Bernie limit themselves to complaints that Trump did not get Congressional authorization before ordering the attack, as if Obama/Biden didn’t do the same to Libya. In fact, as the party of genocide in Gaza, the Democrats under Biden/Harris did everything to prepare this attack on Iran—except push the button themselves for the missile launches. The Democrats are very much at one with Trump on the goal of getting rid of the Iranian regime that the U.S. elite consider a thorn in their sides.

Despite the need for a working-class response, the leaders of the unions—from the UAW’s Shawn Fain on down—have thus far been silent on the U.S. bombing of Iran. This is not an oversight, but rather an outgrowth of their suicidal view that the fate of the U.S. working class rises and falls in sync with the fortunes of the U.S. ruling class on the world stage. To the extent any of them speak up, it will undoubtedly be to preach the virtues of peace.

But war is already upon us—first L.A., now Iran—and new fronts will just keep popping up unless something changes. Pacifist pleas will only fall on deaf ears. Many cite the reactionary character of the Iranian regime as an excuse to pull back from the defense of Iran against the U.S. oligarchy—by far the most reactionary force out there. The Iranian regime does deserve to be ended—not by the much bigger U.S. sponsors of “state terrorism”—but by Iran’s working and toiling masses. But this will be all the more difficult as long as the U.S. imperialists face no resistance at home to their conquest of that country.

The entire left in this country denounces U.S. imperialism, but most cannot bring themselves to put their money where their mouth is and openly state the obvious: We must defend Iran to defend ourselves. Pleas to “stop the war” are no basis on which to build a successful antiwar movement. Such appeals do not distinguish the left one whit from the “progressive” Democrats (or much of the MAGA crowd for that matter) or even begin to address the vital working-class interest in doing something to restrain Trump from escalating this war and starting the next. It will be possible to mobilize the working class to strike a blow against U.S. imperialism only if a sharp line is drawn against the imperialist Democratic Party and those chasing after them by sighing for peace. All leftists and workers who recognize the burning need to defend Iran right now should join together in anti-imperialist contingents at protests to amplify their voice and rally broader support to this course.