On 8 May 2018, in a peaceful gesture, Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) intended to ensure that Iran would not develop nuclear weapons and endanger peace and security. He also announced that he would apply tough sanctions against Iran, sanctions that have not previously been recorded in history, to force Iran to make a “just” agreement with the United States. Trump evaluated the JCPOA deal as “the worst deal.” If we examine the rhetoric of Trump, the rupture of the JCPOA by the US is not related to a nuclear Iran but, rather, it shows that the US, along with its allies in the region, no longer recognizes Iran’s role as a regional power and, furthermore, it demonstrates the US emphasis on its hegemony over its rivals: China, Russia and the European Union.

Iran, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Israel, in line with their imperialist ambitions, want to take the role of regional power for themselves. Demographically, economically and militarily, Turkey is no lesser than Iran and, indeed, has an advantage over Iran in that it has direct support from the West. Of course, this support has diminished in recent years. Saudi Arabia, another country that claims to be a regional gangster, has no demographic, industrial, economic or even military capabilities that can be compared to those of Iran. Saudi Arabia relies on oil money and on the religious industry (the income from Mecca is not much less than oil revenues). Israel is neither demographically nor economically comparable to the other countries but its military-security is superior to the other gangsters that claim regional power and it is the only power in the region that is armed with nuclear weapons. [1]

The fact is that after the Islamic bourgeoisie came to power, a consensus was established among the democratic bourgeoisie to place restrictions on Iran’s regional power. However, Iran continued to exercise its regional imperialist interests and was reluctant to squirm under the pressure of the big gangsters. After years of imperialist tension and psychological warfare the gangsters agreed a nuclear deal on 2 April 2015. The JCPOA imposed serious restrictions on Iran’s nuclear programme and, in return, some of the sanctions that were related to the nuclear issue were phased out. When analysing the conditions, we announced that agreeing to the JCPOA or to the nuclear deal meant accepting that Iran’s regional power would be assumed by the world powers. [2]

In recent years we have witnessed the advance of populism and the decline of neoliberalism across the globe in both metropolitan and peripheral capitalism. The advent of populism has been shown in the US by the victory of Trump, in Britain, by the country’s departure from the European Union, in France, by the advance of the National Front, in Germany by the advancement of the Alternative for Germany and so on. The political and economic hegemony of national capital is the main reason behind the global advent of populism. The advance of populism also expresses the global retreat of the working class from its previous position. The advance of populism is not only clearly manifested in the retreat of the working class from its class identity but, also, in the fact that the class struggle becomes more defensive every day. [3]

Speculation about the possibility of a military confrontation between Iran and the US has risen with the arrival of Trump. It is a fact that neither Trump nor the Supreme Leader of the Islamic bourgeoisie are the “conventional” representatives of capital, rather, they are representatives of the particular conditions of capital. Seemingly, the Islamic bourgeoisie, for its own benefit, does not consider military confrontation between Iran and the US and it attempts to ensure that this does not occur. In such circumstances, the Iranian gangsters are not currently planning to increase their missile range from the current 2,000 kilometres. Of course, the US interests and forces in the region are still within range of Iranian missiles.

Donald Trump opposed the limitations placed on the US nuclear arsenal and so, after his election as President of the United States he stated that the US should substantially strengthen and expand its nuclear arsenal. Indeed, on his Twitter site he wrote:

“The United States must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability until such time as the world comes to its senses regarding nukes.” [4]

From a similar perspective, Putin stated that Russia’s nuclear arsenal should not only be strengthened but also that nuclear missiles should be able to overcome anti-missile defence systems. Russia and the US hold 90 per cent of the global nuclear arsenal and each has more than 7,000 nuclear warheads. The US military budget is more than the total military expenditure of France, Britain, Germany, Italy, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia and India. [5] In 2017, world military spending had reached its highest level since the Cold War.

During a recent television show that was aimed at influencing public opinion on possible US withdrawal, Netanyahu stated that the Iranian gangsters continued to dream of preparing nuclear weapons and that the peaceful world should not allow the Islamic bourgeoisie to achieve nuclear technology. Meanwhile, Israel is the only country in the Middle East that has not signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and, for the past 50 years, it has been producing nuclear weapons at the Dimona nuclear power plant with the help of the US and France. [6] No country has ever sanctioned or punished Israel for producing nuclear weapons. The number of Israeli nuclear bombs lies in a halo of ambiguity. However, according to speculation, Israel has between 100 and 400 nuclear weapons. These weapons can be used in ballistic missiles, submarines or advanced bombers. A previous US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, stated that Tehran is aware that Israeli nuclear warheads are focused on Iran. The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee recently approved a bipartisan Democratic and Republican proposal for Israel: the Advanced American Security Assistance Act. Under this plan, US aid to Israel will amount to $3.3 billion each year for the next five years.

The media’s official narrative of the recent tensions between Iran and Israel is that Iran attacked Israel through Syria and Israel fought back in self-defence, crushing the Iranian positions in Syria. Due to the sensitive conditions, which were close in time to the confirmation of US from the JCPOA, Iran would not engage in military conflict with Israel. However, Israel was seeking just such an incitement to provoke Iran’s response and to make it easier for the world to accept the US withdrawal. In this context, on 9 April 2018, Israel targeted its missiles on the T-4 base in Syria, which resulted in the destruction of the advanced Iranian air defence system and a number of Iranian forces were also killed. In the early hours of 10 May 2018, the Israeli army announced that the Iranian Qods Corps had fired about 20 rockets into the Golan Heights. These rockets were intercepted and destroyed by the “Iron Dome” defence system and there were no casualties or injuries. The Israeli army subsequently announced that it had inflicted the most severe impact on Iran’s positions in Syria. European countries also criticized Iran. Apparently, it was the New York Times that had initiated these speculations. Iran condemned the Israeli attacks on Syria and referred to the Qods Corps’ rocket launch as propaganda that was “Israel’s self-constructed, baseless and unfounded excuse”. In respect to the bombing of Al-Balah, Syria announced that its army had responded with rocket attacks in return for the Israeli army targeting sites inside Syria. Following the US departure from the nuclear deal with Iran, and only hours after Netanyahu’s return from Russia, Israel welcomed the situation and carried out extensive attacks on Syria. There is speculation that following Netanyahu’s visit to Russia and his visit to Putin, there was some agreement that Russia would not restrict Israeli military operations in Syria-it was as though Israel had informed Russia of the prior to the attacks.

It appears that Russia wants to maintain a balance and equilibrium in its relations with Iran and Israel. Awareness of the Israeli attacks and the lack of effort to prevent them have created scepticism. However, one of the sensitive issues is that Russia was supposed to provide Syria with the S-300 missile advanced air defence system. The S-300 air defence can simultaneously track 100 targets in the air. Yet, after Netanyahu’s visit to Russia, Vladimir Putin’s military advisor, Vladimir Kozhin, said that Russia would not be equipping Syria with S-300 missiles and that there was no negotiation process for its potential delivery. Israel is one of the staunch opponents of the S-300 sales to Syria.

Following the victory of democracy over state capitalism, the US was no longer able to apply its hegemony as it had during the Cold War. Therefore, it launched the wars in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Iraq and so on, in order to preserve its hegemony in the new world order and to weaken its rivals. The US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and the nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula is moving in this direction. The US departure from JCPOA is in keeping with its desire to preserving its hegemony, which is further underlined as the US re-emphasizes and reminds its rivals—the European Union, China and Russia—of its hegemony. It is in this context that, in order to maintain their position and interests in the new world order, the bourgeoisie of the European Union, China and Russia have declared that Iran had fulfilled its obligations with regard to the International Atomic Energy Agency and, therefore, that they will continue to remain in the JCPOA. Historically, Britain has always been in favour of US policies but, for the first time, it stood alongside the European Union and against the US policy.

After leaving the nuclear deal with Iran, Donald Trump threatened that if Iran were to resume its nuclear programme at the previous level, i.e., before the JCPOA agreement was in place, this would have serious consequences. He stated: “If they do, they will face very serious consequences”. Trump also stressed that if international companies violate these sanctions they will face severe US sanctions. According to the US sanctions, foreign companies operating in Iran currently have three to six months to leave the country, otherwise they will lose access to the US market and they will be punished. More than two years ago, the US Department of Commerce sanctioned a Chinese telecom company called ZTE for violating Iranian and North Korean sanctions. This Chinese company was recently fined $1.3 billion for breaking Iranian sanctions and it is now required to change its board of directors and to allow a group of US agents to be present in the company for permanent inspection. [7]

The fact is that with the advent of global populism, Trump, along with his allies in the region—Israel and Saudi Arabia-has opposed the granting of regional power to Iran. The US hegemony during the Obama era in the Middle East was greatly reduced and the US allies, especially Saudi Arabia, were unhappy with that. The Trump regime aims to strengthen America’s hegemony and to satisfy its regional allies, in particular, Saudi Arabia and Israel. In this context, Trump’s Twitter announcement on 14 May 2018 stated his main intention regarding the US withdrawal from the JCPOA:

“They were trying to take over the Middle East by whatever means necessary. Now, that will not happen!” [8]

John Bolton, who had agreed to the invasion of Iraq, was elected as the US National Security Advisor, thus completing the groups of politicians that are able to pursue Trump’s policy. Bolton was fervently opposed to the nuclear deal with Iran and advocated military confrontation. He also has close ties with the reactionary and counter-revolutionary organization, the Mujahedin [9], and prior to becoming the US National Security Advisor he believed that the US should overthrow the Iranian regime before its 40th birthday, as stated in an article he wrote for the Wall Street Journal:

“The outcome of the president’s policy review should be to determine that the Ayatollah Khomeini’s 1979 Revolution will not last until its 40th birthday.” [10]

The US withdrawal from the JCPOA was a concern for the countries of Europe and the leaders of the three main powers in Europe—Great Britain, France and Germany—tried to convince Trump to stay in the JCPOA. The British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, visited Trump, Macron visited Trump and Merkel met with Trump. Trump humoured the European leaders whilst advancing his imperialist interests. Following the US withdrawal from JCPOA, other signatory states, such as Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, said that they would continue to commit to the agreement. Iran set a 60-day deadline for Europe and called for the necessary guarantees from the European Union to safeguard its interests and to compensate for the damage caused by the withdrawal of the US. Iran has announced that it will spare no effort in trying to save the JCPOA.

During the presidential election in the US in 2016, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic bourgeoisie said:

“We do not violate the JCPOA, but if the opposing side [USA] violates, we will burn it.”

The US has broken the agreement but the reaction of the Islamic bourgeois Supreme Leader has been more balanced than he had previously suggested. He wishes to continue with the JCPOA without US but with the countries of Europe. He declared:

“If you want to make a contract [with the European], we will get a guarantee to do that, otherwise, they [Europeans] will do the same that the US did. If you were able to get a guarantee, although, of course, I’m sceptical, if you are not able to get a definitive guarantee, then you cannot continue the JCPOA.” [11]

On 15 May 2018, the European Union foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, expressed her optimism but added that despite the EU’s vigorous efforts to keep the JCPOA going, the EU could not guarantee its legal and economic status in this regard. Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister, referred to the withdrawal of some European companies from cooperation with Iran after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA. He pointed out that these countries were not complying with the European Union’s commitments. Zarif was referring to companies such as Total, Siemens, Allianz, MSC, etc., who are now unable to continue to cooperate with Iran due to concerns about US sanctions. Although the European Union is opposed to the US approach, large corporations will not risk the US penalizing their interests in the United States. The big companies will definitely defer to the first economic power of the world (the US) rather than to the small economy of Iran.

Due to the new US sanctions, the French company, Total, has withdrawn from the development of Phase 11 of the South Pars of Iran, which is important for the development of Iran’s oil industry. The main question is whether the Chinese company, CNPC, will replace Total. Iran’s Oil Minister, Zanganeh, announced that if Total plans to step down from the South Pars Phase 11 development, CNPC will take its place and its shares and if the Chinese company leaves, the Petro Pars Company of Iran will remain with the development. In the context of oil imports, the Chinese government and Chinese refineries have expressed their hope that they would be able to continue to import oil from Iran but they have refused to provide guarantees in this regard. China is Iran’s largest oil customer and imports a quarter of Iran’s total export oil.

Iran’s air fleet is very depleted because of the Western sanctions and most of the planes have been grounded due to the lack of spare parts. This has led to an increase in air accidents in Iran. Following the JCPOA deal, Iran signed a contract for the purchase of more than 200 passenger aircraft from Boeing and Airbus. More recently, US Finance Minister, Steven Mnuchin, has said that the US will cancel the sale of Boeing and Airbus aircraft to Iran. Components of the Airbus passenger aircraft are made by the US and are, therefore, subject to US sanctions.

In the context of the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and its intention to impose the most severe sanctions against Iran, the best that the peripheral capital of Iran can expect is the sale of oil and some other economic exchanges with the European Union, China and Russia. This will not lead to serious foreign investment in Iran’s industries and economy. The major banks in the world will face a dilemma with respect to banking and commercial exchanges with Iran. Prior to Trump’s withdrawal from the JCPOA, the big banks were unhappy with Iran because of the possibility of fines.

In its opposition to the US policy and because of the position of the European Union, Iran tends to use the euro currency rather than the dollar in transactions between Iran and Europe. The head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran stated:

“The European delegation has promised to use the euro in the interactions between Iran and Europe, and the proposals have been made, and initial steps have been taken in this regard.” [12]

In an interview with the CNN network, John Bolton, the US National Security Adviser, highlighted the possibility of a boycott of European companies that deal with Iran. Germany and France are two major European economies that, following the JCPOA agreement, have stepped up their activities in Iran’s economic plans and are now worried about the new situation. This is the biggest confrontation between Europe and the US since the end of the Cold War. Of course, the idea of a “commercial war” between the European Union and the United States is not realistic.

Germany was no longer Germany during the Cold War. Germany once again wants to play the role of a major imperialist power in the world and especially in Europe. In its own interest, Germany was opposed to the US engagement with Iraq and with a series of other US wars. Germany is determined to strengthen its position and that of Europe in contradiction to the imperialist interests of the United States. German military forces are present in countries from Lithuania to Afghanistan, from Mali to … and Merkel has promised to increase the German military budget. In this context, the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, has stated that:

“It is no longer such that the United States simply protects us, but Europe must take its destiny in its own hands. That’s the task of the future.” [13]

Germany is still not in a position to challenge the US and so it is cautious. In this context, despite the above remarks and despite the divergent views of Europe and the United States on some issues, Angela Merkel emphasized that “one should not forget about the importance of the transatlantic ties, or the European-American relationship faced with challenges.”

Although Germany is the economic giant and economic engineer of Europe, France, more than Germany, has emphasized its imperialist ambitions and its role as a global power. In line with this goal, France has played a key role in a united Europe that is independent of the US. After the end of the Cold War this issue revealed itself in the different forms of imperialist tension. In this context, President Macron stated that Europe must rule its own fate:

“If, in the toughest times in our history, we agree to other major powers – including allies, including friends – putting themselves in a position to decide for us, for our diplomacy, our security sometimes, creating the worst risks, then we’re no longer sovereign.” [14]

The French Finance Minister, Bruno Le Maire, emphasized France’s imperialist ambitions as a global power more clearly than Macron. Referring to the European Union law of 1996, which allowed the European Union to protect European companies in the event of a possible US embargo, in an interview with France’s TV News, Europe-1 radio, he said:

“Do we want to be vassals who obey decisions taken by the United States while clinging to the hem of their trousers? … Europe should not accept that the U.S. is the world’s economic policeman.” [15]

Historically, Britain has been in agreement with US policies but it recently announced its dissatisfaction with the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and, at the same time, the United Kingdom has emphasized that it is trying to keep the JCPOA going. In this regard, the British Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, has also said that we must protect Iran’s economic and trade interests.

The European Union did not have a single seat in the transfer of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and all of the major European Union countries opposed the move and believed that the peace process would be eradicated. The four EU member states that have decided to transfer their embassies to Jerusalem are Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania. The disagreements in the EU and in the united Europe are in the US interest and at the expense of the European Union. On this occasion, the European Union has tried to make a stand and to maintain its unity in relation to the US withdrawal from JCPOA. On 16 May 2018, in Sofia (Bulgaria), the European Union again assured Iran that if it abides by the JCPOA the EU would not reintroduce its nuclear sanctions. Twenty-eight EU members announced in a joint statement:

“Eliminating nuclear sanctions is an essential part of the agreement. The European Union emphasizes its commitment to ensuring the continuation of this process.”

The European Union, which opposes US sanctions, has said it will protect the interests of European companies against US sanctions. On 18 May 2018, the European Union began a legal process to implement restrictive provisions against US sanctions on Iran. The EU’s restraining regulations mean that the European Union can prevent European companies from enforcing US sanctions or from US courts penalizing European companies for breaking sanctions. The law also prohibits European companies from following the sanctions of a third country. If a European company is penalized or damaged by US sanctions, with deterrence, the EU can compensate for such damages or fines by confiscating the assets of US institutions. The historical context of the deterrence provisions dates from 1996 when European countries adopted US sanctions against Cuba, as a consequence of the formation of the EU, became part of EU regulations. In 1996, the US intended to punish European companies that had dealings with Cuba but Europe used threats of mutual sanctions to force the US to retreat from this stance. Chancellor Jean-Claude Juncker, Head of the European Commission in Sofia, said:

“As the European Commission we have the duty to protect European companies. We now need to act, and this is why we are launching the process to activate the ‘blocking statute’ from 1996. The law would be launched Friday morning at 10:30 a.m. local time.” [16]

The Foreign Minister of the Islamic bourgeoisie, in a complaint to the Secretary-General of the nest of thieves (UN), called the withdrawal of the US from the JCPOA a violation of United Nations Resolution 2231 and emphasized that Iran has fulfilled all its obligations under the agreement. He called for the United Nations to take responsibility for this “irresponsible and destructive” behaviour.

According to the New York Times [17], Trump recently sent two confidential letters to his Arab allies in the Middle East, urging them to play a more political role and to make a greater financial contribution to the counter-measures against Iran. In these letters, Trump states that Arab leaders will take on more responsibility in the anti-Iranian coalition. The US referred, in particular, to the cost of an anti-Iranian counterpart that had cost the United States $7 trillion in the Middle East. After Trump’s departure from the JCPOA, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic bourgeois made public Trump’s first letter in order to humiliate the leaders of the Arab countries. The letter also highlights the important steps and actions that the US intends to take against Iran.

Finally, the US Foreign Minister, Mike Pompeo, described the US conditions for a “fair” agreement in a request that included 12 clauses. He announced that acceptance of the 12 clauses would lead to improvement in the relations with Iran and the lifting of sanctions. There are only three clauses from the 12 that refer to Iran’s nuclear issue and the other nine clauses are in relation to Iran’s imperialist ambitions regarding its regional power claims. He threatened to impose the most severe sanctions on Iran if it did not accept all of the clauses. The satire of history is that the US does not comply with any of the 12 clauses. The irrefutable fact is that a big gangster, a big bandit (the US) tells a small gangster, a little bandit (Iran), that it is not allowed to become a gangster and a bandit!

Mike Pompeo has also emphasized US cooperation with Saudi Arabia and with other countries in the region in order to curb the Islamic bourgeoisie’ ambitions, in other words, nine of the 12 conditions put forward by the US:

“This cooperation begins to confront Iran; Iran destabilizes the entire region, supports vicarious militias and terrorist groups, providing broker and supplies weapons to the Houthis of Yemen, engages in cyber-rigging activities, and also exploits Assad’s criminal regime in Syria protects.” [18]

The basic question that arises is why did no one hold the Czech Republic responsible for the production and testing of Novitjok (a kind of chemical weapon) in 2017? Why not boycott Saudi Arabia for waging a crusade against Yemen that killed thousands of women and children? Why does no one punish Israel, which has occupied the Golan Heights and annexed its territory? Why does no one punish Israel, Russia and the US for their nuclear weapons? Why does no one consider Saudi Arabia’s interference in other countries and punish it for arresting the Prime Minister of Lebanon (Saad Hariri) on board a plane and forcing him to read a statement of resignation against his wishes? Why does no one want to disarm Russian and US nuclear weapons?—and dozens of other gripes.

Iranian gangsters have announced that their missile programme is a defensive plan, not an aggressive one and that under no circumstances is it negotiable. With regard to Iran’s presence in other countries in the region, they also stated that their presence was at the request of the legal governments of the countries of the region and, like the US, that they did not enter these countries aggressively or as a violator. Iran has stated that they will only talk with the Europeans about the situation in Yemen. Iran will definitely try to turn the barbarism that is taking place in Yemen into a punishment for the coalition under the leadership of Saudi Arabia. The reality is that Iran’s influence over the past 15 years has become very widespread. Indirectly, the US has played an indispensable role in expanding Iran’s influence. Once Iraq was the bloody enemy of Iran but it now comes within Iran’s sphere of influence. Iran has penetrated the border with Saudi Arabia through Yemen and in Syria and Lebanon it has expanded its influence.

Iran even wants to play a role in forming the Iraqi Cabinet. During the recent Iraqi election, a coalition under the leadership of Muqtada al-Sadr (Iranian Shi’a cleric) received 54 parliamentary seats. Muqtada al-Sadr is an anti-US Shiite populist who has put Iraq’s sovereignty and independence at the top of his agenda. The current Fatah led by Hadi Al-Amiri came second, securing 47 parliamentary seats, and the forces under the leadership of Heydar Ebadi (the current Prime Minister) came third, securing 42 seats. Although Muqtada al-Sadr is opposed to the presence of the US in Iraq, he is also a critic of the Iranian regime and has previously stated that he is reluctant to form a new government with Iranian-backed forces. Qasem Soleimani, Commander of the Quds Force and Iraq’s former National Security Minister, and described by Mowaffak al-Rubaie as “… the most powerful man in Iraq without question” [19], recently travelled to Baghdad to discuss and negotiate with the various delegates in Iraq in order that the Iraqi Cabinet that takes power will be accepted by the Islamic bourgeoisie.

The Houthis of Yemen and the missiles they fire into Saudi Arabia have become a nightmare for Saudi Arabia. It was previously believed that the rockets that the Yemeni government bought from the former Soviet Union and North Korea had fallen into the hands of Houthi forces. However, on the one hand, the number of those missiles is limited and, on the other hand, the multi-stage missiles launched into Saudi Arabia have made it more difficult for the Patriot air defence system to destroy them. Therefore, it is speculation that Iran will provide the Houthi with missile technology. Although most of these missiles were destroyed by the Patriot air defence system, on several occasions it failed to destroy them, with two of the most important examples being the targeting of the Aramco oil facilities, which led to a fire, and the targeting of Riyadh International Airport, which led to its closure.

The fact is that the nuclear crisis in the Korean Peninsula and the threat from North Korea is a cryptologist’s name for economic warfare, especially the hegemonic war in the region between the US and China. China, in keeping with its imperialist interests, needs North Korea but in the interests of China, North Korea should be a weak economic-military country. The presence of North Korea prevents US forces from settling on the Chinese border. Because of this, China is opposed to US military operations close to its borders and to an attack on North Korea.

Trump and Kim Jong-Un were scheduled to meet in Singapore on 12 June 2018 to end the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula and to establish peace. In a show of goodwill, North Korea released its US prisoners and, more importantly, destroyed its nuclear laboratory with the participation of global journalists. In this regard, Republican legislators wrote a letter to the Nobel Committee in Norway and formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize. The President of South Korea also praised Trump for the truce in the Korean Peninsula saying he should be awarded the Peace Prize. In recent weeks, the US National Security Advisor, as well as the Vice President of the US, has spoken about the model of Libya in relation to North Korea’s disarmament. This, along with a joint military manoeuvre between the US and South Korea, crushed North Korea and Trump cancelled his visit to Kim Jong-un scheduled for 12 June 2018. Trump announced that the North’s “tremendous anger and open hostility” to the US was the reason for the cancellation. North Korea, while regretting the cancellation, expressed hope that the meeting would take place. Trump in his letter to Kim Jong-Un, wrote:

“You talk abound your nuclear capabilities, but ours are so massive and powerful that I pray to God they will never have to be used.” [20]

Over recent days, a US diplomatic mission in the border region between Korea and a delegation from North Korea have been meeting with Kim Jong-un to discuss a possible meeting with Trump. Meanwhile, China also sees fit to expand its hegemony over the region. The Chinese Defence Ministry recently said in a statement that the country’s long-range bombers were undertaking military tests, which were simulated to assume positions in order to strengthen the capabilities of the military within its territory, landing at the new military airport in the South China Sea. China claims ownership of a large part of the South China Sea and has built several artificial islands over the past years, something that has been opposed by the US.

The fact is that the JCPOA has not been sufficiently successful in terms of satisfying the interests of Iran because a large proportion of US, European and Japanese companies have been afraid of investing in Iran, something that might have created problems for them later. Inside Iran, the conservatives, despite the implicit approval of the Supreme Leader, were not optimistic. The Iranian gangsters have announced that they will withdraw from the deal if their interests are not attained and their nuclear programme will be unrestricted. Saudi Arabia has also said that if Iran has nuclear weapons it will also seek to acquire nuclear weapons.

The fact is that there is a secret war between the gangsters. The US, along with Saudi Arabia and other capitalist institutions, has begun a psychological and economic war on Iran’s economy and has been somewhat successful in this respect.

The problems of peripheral capital, political insecurity, US-Saudi threats, etc., have caused the rial (the currency of Iran) to lose at least 30 per cent of its value in the last few months. In other words, the purchasing power of the working class has declined by 30 percent. Apparently, the Islamic bourgeois efforts have been useless to prevent the fall of the rial.

This time, the Iranian working class is supposed to pay the price for the ambitions of the Iranian and the US gangsters; this time, the working class of Iran is supposed to struggle to maintain its physical condition despite the economic blockade from the outside and the crackdown from the inside. This time, every protest of the working class of Iran is supposed to be suppressed under the pretext of foreign threats. This time, the living standards of the working class of Iran are being suppressed under the pretext of the threat from the US. The price of US sanctions will be paid, not by the Iranian bourgeoisie but by the Iranian working class. This time, the US working class will be poisoned with the “America first” nationalist ideology so that the US bourgeoisie will be able to quickly curb the capitalist crisis and transfer the consequences of the crisis to metropolitan capitalism or its rivals. All this is due to the fact that the working class, as a global class, retreats from its class identity.

The confrontation and warfare between large and small gangsters is rooted in the upside-down capitalist system. In the era of capitalist decadence, the era of imperialism, the era of crisis and war, the effect of this rivalry between gangsters is to weaken each other. The bourgeoisie, through the fragmentation of our class and by encircling us with national borders, has persuaded us to line up behind them under the headings of America first, Iran first, France first, Russia first, China first, thus enabling them to continue to rule us. Of greater importance than a national identity is the fundamental property that is common across the globe, a common property of capitalist barbarism, that is, we belong to the working class and our property is being exploited and the production of surplus value is being extracted for capital accumulation. We belong to the exploited camp, we are siblings, whether we are in Tehran, in New York, in Jerusalem or in London. Our enemy is the bourgeoisie in our home.

Only the intensification of the class struggle can bring about an improvement in our living conditions and, by expanding the class struggle to other countries, can challenge the capitalist system. Only the advancement of the working class towards a communist revolution aimed at pulling down the miserable system of capitalism will deliver a world without imperialist tensions and without its wars around the world; a world free of nuclear weapons. This would be a world without class and wage slavery; a world that humanity deserves.

Long live the class struggle from Tehran to Jerusalem, from London to New York!

Internationalist Voice

27 May 2018

Notes:

[1] For more information on this issue, please see the brochure, Imperialist Tensions Between Iran and Democrat Gangsters Internationalist Positions and Duties.

[2] For more information on this issue, please see the brochure, Imperialist Tensions and Agreements – Internationalist Positions and Perspectives.

[3] For more information on this issue, please see the text, Crisis in Capital Camp — On the Edge of Populism and Victory Tramp.

[4]Twitter

[5] Wikipedia

[6]For more information on Israel’s nuclear weapons, please see the documents and observations of a former Israeli expert, listed in the Sunday Times, 5 October 1986.

[7] Japan Times

[8]Twitter

[9]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Mujahedin_of_Iran

[10] http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2018/mar/22/john-bolton-iran

[11] http://www.bbc.com/persian/iran-44050500

[12] http://fa.euronews.com/2018/05/19/iran-says-eu-has-promised-to-keep-nuclear-deal-despite-us-exit-

[13] http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/387067-merkel-europe-cant-count-on-us-to-protect-us-anymore

[14] http://www.elysee.fr/declarations/article/speech-by-m-emmanuel-macron-president-of-the-republic-on-receiving-the-charlemagne-prize/

[15] https://www.cp24.com/world/france-s-finance-minister-says-europe-isn-t-u-s-vassal-should-trade-with-iran-1.3925185

[16] http://www.dw.com/en/eu-to-reactivate-blocking-statute-against-us-sanctions-on-iran-for-european-firms/a-43826992

[17]https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/us/politics/trump-arab-allies-iran.html

[18] https://ir.voanews.com/a/us-pompeo-iran/4401909.html

[19] The Guardian

[20] The Atlantic 

Download az PDF