Defeat the Israeli Aggression against Iran!
Statement by the Internationalist Socialist League (RCIT Section in Israel / Occupied Palestine), 05.08.2021, http://www.the-isleague.com
The Internationalist Socialist League, the section of the RCIT in Israel (Occupied Palestine), supports the uprising of the Ahvaz people in Khuzestan against the repressive regime of Tehran, a capitalist state in religious clothes. We call for a workers' and poor peasants’ government as a transitional demand in the Arab revolution leading to a socialist federation of the Middle East. In this context, we condemn the Iranian regime's support for the regime of the butcher Assad in Syria against the Arab revolution. We want to bring down the reactionary regime by a socialist revolution, not by imperialist economic and military means aiming at restoring the Shah's regime.
On July 30 a UAV drone attacked the ship Mercer Street that is managed by Israeli-owned Zodiac Maritime, off the Oman coast and took the lives of a British and a Romanian national who were aboard.
Israel claims that it was Iran that was behind the attack and that it has the proof for it. The USA and British imperialists support the Zionist claim and its intention to attack Iranian targets. However, Israel has not provided any proof to support its claim. "Israel will make its own decisions on whether to strike back at Iran after the attack on the Mercer Street ship, UK Deputy Ambassador to Israel Mark Power said on Monday, amid reports that the US and UK green-lit Israeli targets in Iran." [1]
"The US, UK, and Israel are all certain Iran is behind the attack on the Mercer Street shop and plan to work on a joint response to it. Prime Minister Naphtali Bennett, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, and UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raba all made statements that Iran was behind Friday’s deadly bombing off the coast of Oman, hours after Iran denied involvement, a move that the prime minister called “cowardly.” [2]
Iran denies that it was behind the attack. We, of course, do not know whether Iran was behind the attack, and this is not important to us in a case of military clashes between Israel and Iran. In such a military confrontation, the interest of the international working class is the revolutionary defeat for the imperialists and Israel as an imperialist state.
Trotsky in a very known passage wrote: “I will take the most simple and obvious example. In Brazil there now reigns a semi fascist regime that every revolutionary can only view with hatred. Let us assume, however, that on the morrow England enters into a military conflict with Brazil. I ask you on whose side of the conflict will the working class be? I will answer for myself personally—in this case I will be on the side of “fascist” Brazil against “democratic” Great Britain. Why? Because in the conflict between them it will not be a question of democracy or fascism. If England should be victorious, she will put another fascist in Rio de Janeiro and will place double chains on Brazil. If Brazil on the contrary should be victorious, it will give a mighty impulse to the national and democratic consciousness of the country and will lead to the overthrow of the Vargas dictatorship. The defeat of England will at the same time deliver a blow to British imperialism and will give an impulse to the revolutionary movement of the British proletariat. Truly, one must have an empty head to reduce world antagonisms and military conflicts to the struggle between fascism and democracy. Under all masks one must know how to distinguish exploiters, slave-owners, and robbers!” [3]
One thing is for sure, even if Iran was behind the attack Israel is the last state to complain after so many Israeli attacks on pro-Iranian forces and on Iran itself.
"Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, over those four decades, all of Israel’s major military campaigns were against what Israel considered Iran’s allies, partners, or proxies, mostly Palestinians and Hezbollah.
1982 to 2000: Against Hezbollah during and after Operation Peace for Galilee
1987 to 1993: Against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during the Palestinians’ First Intifada
2000 to 2005: Against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during the Palestinians’ Second Intifada
2006: against Hezbollah during the Second Lebanon War
2008 to 2009: against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during Operation Cast Lead
2012- against Hezbollah, Revolutionary Guards, and other Iranian-backed militias during the Syrian civil war
2012 against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during Operation Pillar of Defense
2014 against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during Operation Protective Edge
2021: against Hamas and Islamic Jihad during Operation Guardian of the Walls” [4]
Israel time and time again attacked targets in Syria: "Israeli planes carried out airstrikes against targets in Syria for the second night this week, Damascus said early Thursday. The state-run SANA broadcaster reported that Syrian air defenses were confronted with “Israeli aggression” in the skies near Homs in western Syria, near the Lebanese border. It said Israeli jets fired missiles from off the coast north of Beirut — not far from the city’s port, according to Lebanese reports — at targets in al-Quasar, a town near Homs, just after 1 a.m." [5]
According to Haaretz, "a report in the Wall Street Journal in March 2021 uncovered a tip of the iceberg of the economic warfare that Israel has been waging against Iran for the past two and a half years., Israel has systematically scuttled maritime oil smuggling from Iran to Syria by striking at least 12 ships. That effort, according to American sources, is intended to disrupt the use of the funds paid for the oil smuggled to Hezbollah to purchase combat materiel.” [6]
"An investigation by Haaretz reveals that the report last week reflects only part of the broad picture. In practice, it appears that several dozen attacks were carried out, which caused the Iranians cumulative damage of billions of dollars, amid a high rate of success in disrupting its shipping." [7]
Israel assassinated at least 7 Iranian scientist. Wikipedia provides a list with the following facts. (See Table 1)
Table 1: Iranian Scientists Assassinated by Israel
Date Target Place Outcome
15 January 2007 Ardeshir Hosseinpour Shiraz Died
12 January 2010 Masoud Alimohammadi Gheytariah Street, Assassinated
in front of
Alimohammadi's
house
29 November 2010 Majid Shahriari Near Artesh Boulevard Assassinated
29 November 2010 Fereydoon Abbasi Velenjak, in front Survived
of Shahid Beheshti
University
23 July 2011 Darioush Rezaeinejad In front of his house Assassinated
11 January 2012 Mostafa Ahmadi Roshan Ketabi Square, Assassinated
Golnabi Street
27 November 2020 Mohsen Fakhrizadeh Damavand, east of Tehran Assassinated
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Iranian_nuclear_scientists
It is even more likely that the new right-wing government of Israel backed by the USA and Britain thinks that this is a good time to attack Iran. "The Israel Defense Forces is reportedly asking for a major budget increase worth billions of shekels so that it can properly prepare for a potential attack against Iran’s nuclear program. The request was made during preliminary discussions on the budget that the new government will seek to pass in the coming months, the Kan public broadcaster reported Wednesday.” [8]
Meanwhile already in January this year the American imperialists sent a powerful Ohio-class submarine, the USS Georgia, escorted by two guided-missile cruisers – the USS Port Royal and USS Philippine Sea to the Strait of Hormuz. In May the US sent additional two guided-missile destroyers to the Persian Gulf, USS McFaul (DDG-74) and USS Gonzalez (DDG-66). During the month of June the US attacked pro-Iranian militias in Syria and Iraq. “It’s hard to argue, given the pace of attacks against U.S. troops and, now, the increasing frequency of our responses, this isn’t war,” Senator Chris Murphy, a Democrat who leads a key Senate foreign relations subcommittee, told Reuters.” What we always worry about is that the United States slips into war without the American public actually being able to weigh in.” [10]
On August 4th, the Israeli army fired artillery shells into Lebanon after a report that two rockets were launched from Lebanon into Israel amid rising tensions in the region. Channel 12 in Israel reported that one rocket exploded in an open area, and another was intercepted by Israel’s defense system, known as the Iron Dome. It is not clear who fired the rockets and for what immediate reason. It is not clear how many Lebanese were killed or injured. Based on the history of the last months it is more than likely that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon were behind the launching of the Rockets and Israel fired on Hezbollah an Allay of Iran. The Zionist Defense Minister Benny Gantz told diplomats from UN Security Council member states on Wednesday August 4, ”that Iran will be able to break out to a nuclear weapon within 10 weeks.“ Iran has violated all of the guidelines set in the JCPOA [nuclear agreement] and is only around 10 weeks away from acquiring weapons-grade materials necessary for a nuclear weapon .“Therefore,” he added, “it is time to act. The world must apply economic sanctions and take operative action against Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.” [11]
We should keep in mind that in July 2021, U.S. officials told the Wall Street Journal that new sanctions could be imposed on Iran if Iran does not agree to a nuclear deal based on American conditions. Biden hopes that by threatening one of Iran’s most important markets for Iranian oil, namely China, it will force Iran to agree to the new nuclear agreement sooner rather than later.
At present, Iran exports around a million barrels a day of crude to China. The US wants to reduce this trade. Israeli attacks on Iran will be a serious leverage to agree to the American conditions that include an end of Iran support for the Palestinians and the Houthis in Yemen. Sanctions have been imposed on Iranian oil since President Donald Trump removed the JCPOA in 2018 and many times sanctions are the prelude to a war.
Thus, this summer may be a very hot summer not only because of the high temperatures but a new military clash between Israel, backed by the USA and Britain, and Iran. Such clashes may develop into WWIII.
Defend Iran against Israel and other imperialist attacks!
Victory to the Arab revolution!
For the revolutionary struggle against the Iranian reactionary regime!
For a socialist federation in the Middle East!
References:
[4] Leon Trotsky Anti-Imperialist Struggle Is Key to Liberation, An Interview with Mateo Fossa (September 1938)
[5] https://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2020/jan/21/iran%E2%80%99s-confrontation-israel-over-four-decades
[6] https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-jets-said-to-strike-inside-syria-for-second-time-this-week/
[7] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-attacked-dozens-of-tankers-iran-lost-billions-1.9633373
[8] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-attacked-dozens-of-tankers-iran-lost-billions-1.9633373
[9] https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-attacked-dozens-of-tankers-iran-lost-billions-1.9633373
[11] https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/israel-to-unsc-halt-irans-brazen-ship-attacks-675793
Other RCIT recent articles on the Middle East:
RCIT: War Drums in the Middle East, Once Again. Israel, with US and UK support, threatens Iran and its allies with military attacks: defeat the imperialists but no political support for the Mullah regime! 5 August 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/war-drums-in-the-middle-east-once-again/
RCIT: Syria: Glory to Dignified Uprising in Daraa! This is the time to renew the Syrian Revolution! Down with Assad tyranny & its imperialist masters! 30 July 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/syria-glory-to-the-dignified-uprising-in-daraa/
Yossi Schwartz: From the NSO Group to Ben and Jerry: the Zionist State and its Supporters are on the Front Line of Reaction! 25.07.2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/from-nso-group-to-ben-and-jerry/
RCIT: Iran: Mass Struggles Shake the Regime! Unite the sectoral and local struggles to a popular uprising! For a workers and poor peasants government! No to imperialist sanctions against Iran! 24 July 2021, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/iran-mass-struggles-shake-the-regime/