Editors' Note: The danger of a U.S.-Israeli military conflict or devastating war with Iran continues to loom over the Middle East and world. This past week it was reported that the U.S. was sending at least a dozen more warplanes—the F-15 Strike Eagle—to the Middle East in case Iran attacked Israel. And there have been new threats from senior commanders of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps to attack Israel from either Iranian or Iraqi territory in retaliation for Israel’s October 25 attack on Iran.1
In light of these and other developments, our November 4 “Israel-Iran Update,” which we’ve slightly edited and reposted below, remains timely and urgent.
There remains a real danger of further escalations in the cycle of attacks and counterattacks between Israel and the U.S. on one side and Iran on the other. The grave possibility of a devastating all-out war between them, which could draw in other regional and global powers, remains very high.
Iran’s leaders initially downplayed the significance of Israel’s October 26 missile and drone strikes against military targets inside Iran. (For background, see Israel Strikes Iran, Taking Conflict to New, Dangerous Territory, revcom.us, October 28, 2024.)
However, their tone soon changed. On Saturday, November 2, Iran’s “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Khamenei warned that Israel and the U.S. would “definitely receive a crushing response” for their attacks on Iran. A few days earlier a leading Iranian general and a high-level civilian official each made similar threats. An adviser to Khamenei also warned that Iran had the capacity to produce nuclear weapons, and that it was prepared to reverse its present policy not to pursue nukes, if it was faced with an existential threat.
Iran’s intent in sharpening its warning is not entirely clear. It gives no specific sense of if, or when, Iran is going to strike Israel or U.S. forces in the region. Nor is it clear whether this warning is aimed at deterring further attacks, conveying strength and control to the Iranian people, or for some other purpose.
The U.S. has warned Iran against any retaliation, and repeated its support for Israel. On Friday, November 1, it announced another deployment of warplanes and ships to the Middle East, including B-52 long-range bombers. (Some B-52s are capable of carrying nuclear weapons.)
Meanwhile, Israel claims it severely weakened Iran’s defenses and would strike even more massively if Iran retaliates. “Israel now has greater freedom to operate in Iran than ever before,” Prime Minister Netanyahu (aka Netan-Nazi) told military personnel on October 31.
The U.S. rulers are trying to build support for backing Israel and possibly taking further military action against Iran in the name of “defending democracy.” Iran’s rulers seek to mobilize people on the basis of resisting imperialism.
These are lies on every side. The U.S. is aiming to tighten its imperialist domination of the Middle East. Iran’s Islamic Republic is an oppressive theocratic regime. It is fighting, in rivalry with the U.S., to extend its own influence and maneuvering room in the region, within that same system of global imperialism.
BAsics 1:3
The essence of what exists in the U.S. is not democracy but capitalism-imperialism and political structures to enforce that capitalism-imperialism. What the U.S. spreads around the world is not democracy, but imperialism and political structures to enforce that imperialism.
So, neither the U.S. imperialists or their genocidal regional henchman Israel, nor the theocratic fascists of the Islamic Republic of Iran should be supported. In this intensifying clash, the U.S. and Israel represent by far the greater aggressors and dangers to humanity.
So, neither side should be supported. But those of us living within the U.S. do have three major responsibilities in this perilous situation:
- We have the responsibility to vigorously build mass opposition to the crimes and war moves of the U.S. and Israel;
- We have the responsibility to do this as part of preparing for a revolution that could overthrow this system with its constant wars and its life-stealing system of worldwide exploitation; and
- We have the responsibility to support those forces all over the world who courageously oppose this capitalist-imperialist system and, especially, those working to overthrow it, like our revolutionary comrades in Iran, who are courageously organizing for revolution against the reactionary Islamic Republic.
These recent developments again point to the urgency and importance of the revolutionary leader Bob Avakian’s social media message @BobAvakianOfficial REVOLUTION #87, and his analysis of the stakes involved:
In arming and backing the actions of Israel, the U.S. government is not only enabling the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians but is also increasing the possibility of a war with Iran, and perhaps an even wider and more destructive war. At the same time, by massively providing weapons, as well as intelligence and strategic direction to Ukraine, the U.S. government, headed by the Biden/Harris administration, is already indirectly at war with Russia, while also making preparations for military confrontation with China—all of which could lead to world war, between nuclear-armed imperialist powers, with the possibility of wiping out human civilization as we know it.
Stay attuned to developments and to revcom.us and @BobAvakianOfficial.
