We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way.

—Bob Avakian, architect of the new communism and revolutionary leader 

The danger of a truly catastrophic U.S. war of imperialist aggression against Iran looms larger by the day. Indeed, as we are going to press there are reports of greatly accelerated preparations. Stay tuned to this site for updates.

Last week (February 19), Trump again threatened to attack Iran, warning it had better bow down to U.S. demands or "really bad things" will happen to it. He raised the idea of a limited strike, which reportedly includes the targeted assassinations of Iranian leaders aimed at regime change.¹ 

The fascist Trump claims he hasn’t decided whether or not to attack Iran. Trump says he wants to give the negotiations between the U.S. and Iran’s Islamic Republic (IRI) a chance to succeed. Yet his regime has floated many demands which amount to surrender—demands which Iran has already rejected—and there are reports that the talks have stalled.²

Meanwhile, the Trump fascist regime has surged the largest U.S. military force to the Middle East since George W. Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. This force includes “dozens of refueling tankers… more than 50 additional fighter jets, and two aircraft carrier strike groups, complete with their accompanying destroyers, cruisers and submarines,” according to the New York Times. Many of these planes and ships can fire nuclear weapons.³

The New York Times also reports that the U.S. military buildup around Iran had reached the point where Trump could launch an attack at any time. According to Axios, “The Trump administration is closer to a major war in the Middle East than most Americans realize. It could begin very soon.”

This is not to say that such an attack is inevitable and a done deal—there are other forces in the region opposed to it and other forces or factors that could enter into this. But the momentum toward attack right now is very powerful.

In the face of Trump’s ominous threats and massive military buildup against Iran, Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries, the top Democrats in Congress, issued mild complaints about Trump not consulting them—but have taken no real action to stop him, and certainly have not called people into the streets to protest! This is because the Democrats and the Republi-fascists—even with their extremely sharp differences—are both instruments of the system of capitalism-imperialism, and from that standpoint, the Democrats basically agree on the need to severely constrain or even overthrow the Iranian regime in order to protect and extend U.S. interests.

An Imperialist Slaughterfest to Serve Further U.S. Domination…

The Middle East—in which Iran is located—is a strategic crossroads of the world and repository of much of the world’s oil. Over just the past 35 years, literally millions of its residents, and thousands of U.S. and European soldiers, have died from three “official” American-initiated wars and countless “covert actions,” drone strikes and other aggression. 

Trump’s war will not only constitute a massive war crime and crime against humanity, but in today’s world of heightened superpower rivalry, it could very possibly lead to much larger, global disaster.  

And contrary to Trump’s hypocritical bullshit claims at one point to support the protesters demanding justice from the repressive theocratic regime in Iran, such U.S. aggression would actually put those millions of Iranians in even greater danger. As Osyan, a group of Iranian and Afghan women, said recently: 

While foreign powers (the USA and Israel) took advantage of the protests to advance their own interests and agendas, the Islamic Republic also exploited allegations of foreign interference to fully carry out its plan to massacre dissidents using military weapons, under the pretext of the “continuation of a 12-day war with Israel.” Not only was the violence not reduced—it intensified drastically.

… And a “Limited War” That Could Easily Spiral Out of Control

But that’s not the half of it. Any U.S. attack on Iran—whether massive or “limited”—could spiral out of control in unpredictable ways that could make the situation—and the suffering of the people—much more disastrous. 

The U.S. has assembled an “armada” capable of massive destruction and extended combat, potentially even threatening the existence of Iran’s ruling Islamic Republic. 

The Trump regime may calculate that Iran’s rulers are at their weakest point. They may be going by the relatively weak response to the Israeli-American “war” on Iran last June to wipe out its nuclear program. But in previous confrontations, including that one, Iran has largely responded symbolically, often even alerting the U.S. ahead of time. In fact, the regime is far from powerless and is threatening to carry out an all-out counter-attack against U.S. forces and interests in the region if its existence is threatened.⁴ Most observers believe that a collapse of the regime is highly unlikely. 

The Fascist Character of the Trump Regime Makes This Even More Dangerous

The fascist character of the Trump regime lends a desperate edge to this already fraught situation. Think about it—how would Trump respond—or feel compelled to respond—to the sinking of a U.S. Navy vessel or a mass casualty attack on U.S. troops? This would certainly heighten the danger of massive escalation, of the war spreading across the region, of other nuclear-armed world powers getting involved, and of widespread heightened repression against political opposition in the U.S. Once war begins, all bets are off, but Trump would be viewing this, in part at least, through the calculus of maintaining the momentum of fascist dominance and consolidation. Maintaining momentum, as Nazi-saluting Trump adviser Steve Bannon constantly warns, is particularly crucial for a fascist regime.

Why Is the U.S. So Deeply Involved in the Middle East and Iran? 

Capitalist-imperialist powers like the U.S. are driven by the workings of this global system to seek to dominate and control key regions, resources, markets, trade routes and more, while preventing their rivals from doing so—by force if need be.  

The Middle East is one very key region. As we spoke to above, it holds over half of the world's proven crude oil reserves. Crucial global trade routes run through it. And geographically, it links Asia, Africa and Europe, making it a key military-strategic crossroads. 

Since World War 2, the U.S. has dominated this region. But the 1979 overthrow of the Shah (king) of Iran, who was subservient to the U.S., and his replacement by the Islamic Republic created increasing problems for the U.S. In recent decades, those have included the Islamic Republic’s growing influence and network of allies in the region; its pursuit of nuclear enrichment (Iran does not have any nuclear weapons); and its opposition to Israel. The Communist Party of Iran (MLM) has further observed that: "Since the U.S.-Israeli military aggression in June 2025, the IRI has increasingly tied its fate to the intense rivalry between the Chinese and Russian imperialists and U.S. imperialism. In exchange for this loyalty, China and Russia helped rebuild the IRI's military and security apparatus." [emphasis added]

The Trump regime calls Iran “the region’s chief destabilizing force.” In the aftermath of Israel's genocidal slaughter of the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Trump fascists and Israel are in the process of radically restructuring the Middle East region to even more thoroughly impose U.S. dominance. Overthrowing the Islamic Republic or bringing it to heel are key to that remaking.⁵  (The Trump regime is reportedly also attempting to exploit or control Iran’s oil wealth.⁶) 

But Where Do the Interests of the Masses of Humanity Lie?

So those are the interests of this system, no matter which set of rulers—fascist or “democratic”—are in control. But where do the interests of humanity lie? 

In doing away with and getting beyond the domination of this planet by capitalism-imperialism and its homicidal and suicidal logic. In doing away with and getting beyond an insane “logic” that produces needless, yet unending suffering and death. In doing away with and getting beyond a system that causes unending war and brutality—unending genocides—the trampling and suppression of whole peoples—the degradation and enslavement of the female half of humanity—mass starvation and disease—and looming over it all ecocide, the destruction of the very environment that makes all life possible. And now, in doing away with and getting beyond a system that has brought to power a full-out fascist regime, one that is even more violently usurping rights and viciously suppressing and torturing whole peoples—and, as part of that, nonviolently driving out the regime itself.

But we are not doomed to be locked into this system. A better world IS possible. The revolutionary leader Bob Avakian has developed a strategy for revolution and has written the Constitution for the New Socialist Republic in North America, which provides the sweeping vision, the firm foundation and the concrete blueprint for a new society on its way to eliminating all forms of oppression and exploitation. Listen to this, from the pamphlet We Need and We Demand: A Whole New Way to Live, a Fundamentally Different System:

IN THE NAME OF HUMANITY—the billions in all parts of the world who are denied a decent life and a future worth living in, or any future at all: threatened with literal extinction because of the destruction of the environment by this system and the danger of nuclear war between the U.S. and its rivals in Russia and China—all of them ruthless imperialist powers.

We can no longer afford to allow these imperialists to continue to dominate the world and determine the destiny of humanity. And it is a scientific fact that humanity does not have to live this way.

A whole different way of living is possible: a whole different way to organize society, with a radically different economic foundation and political system, emancipating relations among people and an uplifting culture—all of this oriented to meeting the basic needs and fulfilling the highest interests of the masses of people.

And, from later in this same piece:

The new socialist government will not develop or use nuclear weapons and will take concrete steps and wage determined struggle to abolish nuclear weapons everywhere, with the ultimate goal of finally abolishing wars among human beings, with the abolition of the capitalist-imperialist system, and all systems and relations of exploitation and oppression, which are the basis for wars. This new socialist government will move, quickly, systematically and effectively, to address the already acute and fast accelerating environmental crisis, with the aim of bringing into being a world where humanity can truly be fit caretakers of the earth.

All this is not just a dream, or a wish—it is what is possible and necessary in the interests of the masses of people in this country and the great majority of humanity, and for the future of humanity as a whole.

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