Iran Deal: Nothing Won, Nothing Solved

The truce in the U.S. war against Iran has stopped the imperialists’ bombs, for now. But those who correctly stood for Iran’s defense during the war must have a sober view of the situation if they are to continue the struggle and chart a course that can defeat the U.S. and its Israeli accomplices.

Trump abjectly failed to achieve Iran’s “unconditional surrender,” as he demanded. And the fact that Iran withstood the blows of the biggest imperialist power is something in itself. On that basis and despite opposition from hardline elements, the Islamic Republic has proclaimed victory, echoed by much of the left internationally. But the hard truth is that the balance of forces in the region has not changed fundamentally.

The deal is essentially that the U.S. will pay Iran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, with negotiations to follow. None of the strategic issues that drove this war have been resolved, and nothing fundamental has been won by Iran. Financial relief will be tied to Iran’s “performance” in adhering to the deal, with Trump threatening to resume bombing if necessary. As for the $300 billion “development” funds and the lifting of all sanctions, these are promises geared to extract more concessions from Iran, which has already agreed to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Militarily, the U.S. suffered setbacks, but not of major proportions. In short, the main result is that the Islamic Republic can live to fight another day.

And surely it will have to fight. The U.S.-Israeli Axis of Evil remains as determined as ever to remove the Islamic Republic as a counterweight to their power in the Middle East. The last 100 days must be seen as only one chapter in the decades-long U.S. campaign to destroy that obstacle. The U.S. and Israel will now use the time to rearm, while Iran shoulders the task of rebuilding infrastructure and reviving a shattered economy. As for Lebanon, only a fool would think that Netanyahu will stop the bombing because he got a lecture from Trump. The U.S. and Israel will do everything they can to finally crush Hezbollah, using the “peace deal” to continue their slow grind. Meanwhile, the Zionists have thrown a blanket of terror over the West Bank after turning Gaza into rubble.

If the U.S. holds to its pledge to relieve sanctions and release Iran’s frozen overseas funds, we can only welcome this. But such concessions do not address the strategic obstacles to Iran’s security. Key to these are its nuclear enrichment program, ballistic missile defenses and support to the Axis of Resistance. These will all be at the center of the upcoming talks. Meeting in France yesterday, the leaders of the G7 imperialist countries, who squealed like stuck pigs when Trump closed the Strait of Hormuz, declared that the truce deal is a “historic opportunity to prevent Iran from acquiring any nuclear weapon.” What is at stake here, as it has been for decades, is Iran’s right and duty to develop whatever means are necessary for its own defense.

When it comes to resisting imperialist aggression, the Iran war showed for the umpteenth time that the heroes of “multipolarity” are utterly useless. Focused on its war in Ukraine, Russia basically sat things out, content with the opening it got to market its oil. As for China, the Communist Party (CPC) leadership played its usual role of peacemaker, refusing to mount any challenge to the U.S. brigands even while they attacked one of their key trading partners. Throughout the war, it continually pressured Iran to settle. On top of that, it used China’s enormous oil reserves to cut back imports from Iran, thereby easing global oil prices and relieving the intense pressure Trump was under at home to reopen the Strait. The longer the CPC fails to resist U.S. aggression, the more time and space it gives the imperialists to encircle China, which is precisely one of their goals in targeting Iran.

It is necessary now for the left and workers movement to take stock of the situation and draw some lessons. Iran’s military held up well against U.S. attacks, and while Israel has bloodied Hezbollah, it has not broken them. Opponents of imperialism can take heart from this. But that should not blind them to the fact that the strategy Iran and its allies have pursued is incapable of actually defeating U.S. imperialism. Faced with the endless cycle of sanctions and war, the Islamic government seeks only to put up enough resistance to win some breathing space, relying on global “public opinion” to contain the imperialists and Zionists.

What is needed instead is to unite Iran’s toilers and national minorities with the region’s Arab masses, in struggle against the U.S. and its tools in Israel and the Gulf states. Iran’s rulers cannot lead such a fight. Whatever credentials they may have won for standing up to the imperialists, their oppressive clericalism and nationalist outlook are poison to Iranian workers and oppressed people in the region. While standing forthright for Iran’s defense, revolutionaries must put forward an internationalist strategy that can link the fight for liberation in the Middle East to the class struggle in the U.S. and other capitalist powers. Down that road lies the ultimate defeat of the imperialists and all their agents and proxies.