{"id":687,"date":"2026-03-29T12:00:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T10:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.revolucionpermanente.com\/english\/?p=687"},"modified":"2026-04-06T13:45:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T11:45:08","slug":"down-with-the-imperialist-and-zionist-war-against-iran-down-with-israels-invasion-of-lebanon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.revolucionpermanente.com\/english\/2026\/03\/29\/down-with-the-imperialist-and-zionist-war-against-iran-down-with-israels-invasion-of-lebanon\/","title":{"rendered":"Down with the imperialist and Zionist war against Iran! Down with Israel\u2019s invasion of Lebanon!"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The United States and Israel do not have complete control over the situation<\/h3>\n

Since February 28, the United States and Israel have been bombing Iran relentlessly. US imperialism had no vital or immediate interest in starting this war. Contrary to what Trump has claimed, as Bush did in 2003 with the so-called weapons of mass destruction to justify the war in Iraq, Iran was still a long way from possessing the nuclear bomb and the intercontinental missiles to deliver it. Negotiations were under way on these issues and the Iranian regime, weakened by economic sanctions, the military defeats of its allies and the growing determination of the masses to overthrow it, was prepared to make concessions to preserve the essentials. But it was an opportunity for Trump to assert to his rivals and competitors that American imperialism now rules the world, to move forward with his Zionist ally in reconfiguring a Middle East to their liking, and to deprive his main adversary, China, of Iran\u2019s oil resources.<\/p>\n

Trump was convinced that Iranian power would collapse as soon as the first strikes decapitated the regime, leaving room for factions ready to do his bidding. Had it not succeeded in forcing Venezuela to fall into line and take control of its oil resources after a simple show of force and a commando operation? But the fall of the Iranian regime, which was brandished at the start of the war to justify imperialist aggression, never materialised. Even though many of its leaders have been killed, the mullahs\u2019 regime is not giving in or breaking up. On the contrary, it is strengthening its control and repression of any hint of opposition, while mobilising a significant proportion of the population behind it against imperialist aggression. Even though its military installations have suffered massive destruction, Iran continues to defend itself and has no intention of capitulating. It still controls shipping in the Strait of Hormuz and retains its missile and drone capabilities, which inflict major damage on the oil and gas installations of the Gulf oil monarchies and even manage to penetrate Israeli defences. Some forty production sites have already been hit, requiring sometimes lengthy repairs that rule out any return to normal production in the near future. All the consequences are mounting, leading to a major global energy crisis that is already seriously affecting many Asian countries. The price of oil has risen by around 50% since the start of the war, stock markets are in a panic, central bank interest rates are rising with inflation, world production is slowing, and part of world trade is being seriously affected. <\/p>\n

Trump has reached an impasse<\/h3>\n

Presented by Trump as \u201can excursion,\u201d this war, which was not supposed to last, is instead deepening every day. The US government has reached an impasse. After the bombing of Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities in June 2025, it was able to suddenly stop the strikes and claim victory. This is impossible today, unless it completely discredits itself and American imperialism with it. Despite his triumphalist proclamations, he has achieved nothing decisive, and Iran continues to strike back. Military logic, based on the superiority of US and Israeli weaponry over Iran, would therefore mean continuing and intensifying the offensive. What\u2019s more, US military production is not planned to occupy a country with a population of over 87 million, nor to bombard it for months on end. The reinforcements arriving in the region are clearing out bases on other continents, particularly in Asia, in order to confront imperialist China. <\/p>\n

But the war is unpopular in the United States, even in the ranks of supporters of Trump, who promised, after Iraq and Afghanistan, to put an end to military adventures abroad. Demonstrations are taking place against the ongoing aggression.<\/p>\n

And the longer it goes on, the more unpopular it will be, especially if troops are engaged on the ground and suffer casualties. It is costing the United States a billion dollars a day, and the Pentagon has just asked Congress for a $200 billion budget increase to finance its continuation. The US may be the world\u2019s leading producer of oil and gas, but prices at the pump here and elsewhere are in line with world market prices, which is good for American companies, but not for American motorists. What\u2019s more, the prospect of a slowdown in world growth, the inflation induced by the violent rise in oil prices which will spread to all sectors of the economy, the blocking of the Strait of Hormuz through which not only oil and gas transit, but also fertilisers and the helium essential to the manufacture of computer chips, etc., all these factors are worrying the major capitalist groups, in the United States and throughout the world. Hence Trump\u2019s dilemma and his waltz of hesitation: extract negotiations with Iran to end the war as quickly as possible or step up the offensive, mobilise landing troops and promise to unleash \u201chell\u201d.<\/p>\n

It’s not up to imperialism but to the Iranian masses to decide!<\/h3>\n

At the start of the war, US imperialism and its Zionist ally claimed that their aim was to liberate the Iranian masses from the Islamist dictatorship. Repeated over and over again by all the bourgeois media, put forward by the supporters of the return of the Pahlavi monarchy both inside and outside Iran, this fable is becoming less and less credible as US imperialism shows that it is prepared to negotiate with the regime or any of its factions that it hopes will emerge. This illusion, deliberately maintained by the supporters of imperialism, is a betrayal of the movement of the Iranian masses against the regime. <\/p>\n

In December 2025–January 2026, their powerful mobilisation came up against the regime\u2019s armed militias and was put down in bloodshed. The imperialist aggressors made sure that this independent movement of the masses in January-February was stifled by the dictatorship before launching their war. Their bombs are not aimed at liberating the Iranian masses, but at subjecting them to a new master at the price of destroying the country, if necessary. Neither the imperialist aggressions in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya… have liberated the masses. From now on, the Iranian people must not only fight against the ferocious repression of the regime, but also protect themselves as best they can from the bombs of the imperialists. US imperialism is also trying to exploit the armed Iranian Kurdish groups who have set up bases in neighbouring Iraq, in order to turn them into auxiliaries for the US army. The Kurdish people\u2019s struggle to establish their own independent state is totally legitimate. It confronts the Iranian, Turkish, Iraqi and Syrian powers head-on and can only succeed by allying with the working class of these countries to overthrow these regimes by the masses. <\/p>\n

The workers of Iranian Kurdistan must remember that US imperialism has just abandoned the Kurds of Syria to the Islamist regime. They must seek liaison with the proletariat of the whole of Iran against imperialist aggression and for the overthrow of the Islamist dictatorship. <\/p>\n

In the event of an imperialist attack on an oppressed country, we internationalist communists are on the side of that country against imperialism, without giving any political support to the regime of that country and its national bourgeoisie. This is as true for Iran as it is for Ukraine and Venezuela. In Iran, the workers\u2019 movement must put forward the independent organisation of the masses for the defence of the country against imperialist aggression and for the overthrow of the Islamist regime, for the appeal to the soldiers in the army and fraternisation with the rank and file, for the arming of the masses, for the self-organisation of the masses in the shoras, for a workers\u2019 and peasants\u2019 government. <\/p>\n

No shah, no ayatollahs, no puppet in the pay of imperialism! <\/p>\n

Unconditional defence of Iran against imperialist aggression! Arm the workers!<\/p>\n

Down with the Islamist dictatorship! Disband the Pasdaran and the Basijis! Religion is a private matter! Separation of state and Shiite clergy!<\/p>\n

Release of political prisoners! All democratic freedoms: freedom of expression, organisation, women\u2019s rights, right to strike, right to demonstrate\u2026 ! Right of national minorities to self-determination, including separation!<\/p>\n

Self-defence demonstrations! Creation of shoras in workplaces, living and study areas and barracks!<\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 and peasants\u2019 government based on shoras! West Asian Socialist Federation!<\/p>\n

Zionism\u2019s headlong rush<\/h3>\n

Israel does not have the problems of the United States. But the United States\u2019 problems risk becoming part of Israel\u2019s problems. A majority of the population, encouraged by the national unity of all the parties for the war, supports for the moment both the offensive against Iran and that against Lebanon. The aim of the Zionist state is to reduce Iran to chaos, to get rid of a rival regional power in order to ensure its control over the whole region. Netanyahu has declared that he wants to bring Iran to its knees, and Israel is doing everything it can to make the continuation of the war inevitable, to ensure that it lasts as long as possible, and that the destruction of Iran\u2019s civilian and military infrastructure accumulates. This is why Israel is bombing the oil depots in Tehran, the South Pars gas site and assassinating the Iranian leaders who have entered into indirect negotiations with the US. But Israel does not have the strength to wage a long war against Iran on its own. It absolutely needs American help, in the form of money, equipment, air refuelling for its planes, satellite intelligence, etc. When Trump declared in June 2025 that the count was over after twelve days of bombing Iran, Israel also had to stop its strikes. <\/p>\n

Israel used the pretext of Hezbollah sending a few rockets in response to the imperialist aggression against Iran on 28 February to launch a new invasion of Lebanon. The Zionist army is systematically destroying towns and villages, pushing a million refugees – more than a sixth of the total population – across the Litani river, then destroying the bridges over this river, thus preventing the refugees from returning. It murders Lebanese journalists. <\/p>\n

This operation has nothing to do with a simple military reprisal. It is similar to the genocide carried out in Gaza. The aim is to prepare for the outright annexation of 10% of Lebanese territory, as Israel has already done with the Golan Heights taken from Syria. The massive bombardments in Beirut and as far north as Lebanon are intended to terrorise the population and discourage any resistance. There are 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon recognised by UNRWA, plus a number of informal settlements, for more than 220,000 Palestinians, many of whom are in southern Lebanon and to the south and east of Beirut where Israeli air strikes are concentrated. UNIFIL, which was supposed to monitor the application of the ceasefire agreed on 26 November 2024, has not intervened against the daily violations of this ceasefire by Israel, nor has it today interposed itself against the invasion. The main imperialist countries, including France, the former Mandatory Power, are displaying hypocrisy by supporting the Zionist offensive. First and foremost, France condemns Hezbollah\u2019s resistance, tries to help the Lebanese state to disarm it and then politely asks Israel to stop its offensive and to negotiate under its aegis. Israel claims to want to disarm Hezbollah once and for all, just as it claims to want to eradicate Hamas in Gaza. Hezbollah was created in reaction to the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon in 1978 and again from 1982 to 2000, which hunted down Palestinian militants. Hezbollah is a reactionary Islamist bourgeois organisation subservient to the Iranian mullahs, which is seeking to integrate into the Lebanese bourgeois state and which has already given it several ministers. But in the absence of a revolutionary workers\u2019 organisation, many Lebanese Shiites are joining Hezbollah in an attempt to resist Zionist aggression, just as large numbers of Palestinians in Gaza are supporting Hamas against Israel. It is Zionist oppression that constantly fuels the renewal of Hamas and Hezbollah fighters. <\/p>\n

At the same time, Israel is continuing to occupy and suffocate the Gaza Strip, while the settlers and the army are stepping up their abuses and intensifying the colonisation of the West Bank. Zionism has embarked on a kind of inexorable headlong rush. But Israel cannot with its forces alone sustain a long war against Iran, occupy southern Lebanon for long periods and wage terror against the Palestinians. Despite the unfailing military and financial support of US imperialism and the backing of other imperialists, the mobilisation of 400,000 additional reservists recently decided on will inevitably crack the national unity behind Netanyahu. The first anti-war demonstrations took place on 22 and 29 March. <\/p>\n

Down with Israeli aggression against Lebanon!<\/p>\n

Israel, out of Lebanon, the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and Syria!<\/p>\n

Israeli reservists must refuse to serve their government\u2019s annexation policy!<\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 united front to organise a boycott of arms shipments to Israel!<\/p>\n

Down with the colonial state of Israel! A unified, democratic, secular, multilingual, socialist Palestine! <\/p>\n

Socialist Federation of the Middle East!<\/p>\n

Against imperialism, in preparation for revolution!<\/h3>\n

The international repercussions of this war are shaking up the balance of power. Russia is recovering its revenues from the sale of gas and oil to finance its war of aggression against Ukraine. Ukraine has been deprived of the supply of arms, particularly anti-aircraft weapons, which American imperialism now reserves for its ally Israel and the Gulf monarchies. <\/p>\n

Trump has called on the other imperialist members of NATO to get involved militarily to ensure free movement through the Strait of Hormuz, but they have all refused. \u201cIt\u2019s not our war\u201d, said Chancellor Merz, much to the fury of Trump, who in return called them \u201ccowards\u201d and is moving ever closer to abandoning NATO. This inter-imperialist alliance, which emerged after the Second World War, no longer corresponds to the needs of US imperialism, which now has to attack some of its former allies to maintain its global domination. <\/p>\n

Chinese imperialism is concerned to see US imperialism attacking its international positions in Latin America and now in the Middle East. The outcome of this war will be decisive. Either US imperialism is forced to withdraw without having succeeded in crushing Iran, and Chinese imperialism will benefit from this, or it will tip over into military escalation and all-out war, and Chinese imperialism will be forced to leave the cautious wait-and-see attitude it has adopted for the time being. In any case, imperialist aggression against Iran brings us a step closer to a new world war between the major imperialist powers. <\/p>\n

For the workers of the world, there is no good side among all the warmongering imperialisms.<\/p>\n

Trade unions and parties speaking on behalf of the workers must immediately take a stand around the world to stop and defeat imperialist aggression in Iran and Zionist colonialism in Lebanon. They must immediately call for mass demonstrations and the blocking of the production and transport of the aggressors\u2019 weapons. <\/p>\n

Down with NATO! Against the rearmament programmes of the European Union, the United Kingdom and Japan! Not one dollar, not one yuan, not one euro, not one yen, not one pound, not one rouble for military escalation!<\/p>\n

Against the power and murderous profits of the military industry: expropriation and workers\u2019 control of all arms companies and their subcontractors!<\/p>\n

Only the working class can stop the escalation of the imperialist predators for control of the world:<\/p>\n

American troops and bases, out of Europe and all continents! Russian troops out of Ukraine! Withdrawal of Spanish, British, French, Italian and German troops, navies and air forces from the Mediterranean, Central Europe, the Middle East and Africa!<\/p>\n

Replace the standing army with a self-defence militia, inextricably linked to workplaces, working-class neighbourhoods, villages and universities!<\/p>\n

Workers\u2019 government! World Socialist Federation!<\/p>\n

29 March 2026<\/center><\/p>\n

Permanent Revolution Collective (CoReP)<\/center>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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