Explosions in Tehran as Israel strikes Iran.
On Friday morning, June 13, Iran time, Israeli warplanes carried out large-scale bombing attacks on Iran. There were reports of attacks in various locations in Iran, including in the capital, Tehran. Israel’s Netanyahu government claims the attacks are targeted at what it says are programs by Iran to develop nuclear weapons. Netanyahu said that the Israeli attacks on Iran would continue “for as many days as it takes.” These attacks take place on top of the horrible genocide being visited upon Palestinians in Gaza by Israel with full U.S. backing, in which people are both being intentionally starved and then murdered when they come to get the pitifully small shipments of food the Israelis allow in.
The Israeli attacks on Iran are occurring at a time when the Trump regime has been carrying out talks with the Iranian government around Iran’s nuclear program. In the days before the attack, Trump had said he was “getting more and more less confident” about any agreement from the talks, and raised the possibility of Israel going ahead with attacks on Iran. And the Trump regime had ordered families of U.S. diplomats to leave Iraq and other countries in the region.
The situation is fast developing, and we will continue to follow up. But three key points for now:
- This is a totally unjust attack. Israel—the ONLY nuclear-armed country in the Middle East, with at least 90 warheads—is attacking Iran, a non-nuclear rival, with the excuse that Iran MAY at some day in the future gain enough nuclear capability to develop a few weapons.
- The real interests involved here concern Israel cementing itself further as the dominant power in the Middle East. Whatever the U.S. position may be concerning this particular attack, the U.S.—through every administration for decades—has backed it in this goal, with none more fanatical in that position than Trump. The fault for this war lies with Israel and the U.S.
- This attack makes the world a much more dangerous place, not a safer one. Regional war between these two countries could very possibly spiral into a larger conflict in the Middle East—and even a world war involving imperialist powers with thousands of nuclear weapons that could bring an end to human civilization. This must be opposed by people in this country and around the world.
All this underscores the importance of what revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has said:
We, the people of the world, can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. They need to be overthrown as quickly as possible. And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way—a whole different way to organize society, a whole better world, is possible.
