09-01-2024: ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria or Islamic State) has claimed responsibility for the January 3 terrorist attack in the south-eastern Iranian city of Kerman, which destroyed the lives of at least 103 innocent people. This monstrous atrocity targeted a memorial gathering marking the fourth anniversary of the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC (Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp) Quds Force Commander in January 2020 by a US drone strike.[1] Soon afterwards, it was reported that it was in fact two members of ISIS-K, or ISKP (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria – Khorasan or Islamic State Khorasan Province) which had detonated suicide vests at the Soleimani memorial,[2] which had attracted a crowd of up to 10 000 people. General Qassem Soleimani is a widely admired and revered figure in the Islamic Republic of Iran, who demonstrated extraordinary military and diplomatic skills by leading and organising the effective defeat of ISIS and Al Qaeda in Syria, Iraq and the region during the US imperialist led proxy war of regime change from 2011 onwards.

War provocations

In 2022, ISIS claimed responsibility for a deadly terror attack on a Shi’ite shrine in Iran which killed 15 people. In 2017, ISIS claimed responsibility for twin bombings on Iran’s parliament and the tomb of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.[3] The claimed ISIS attack on Kerman comes little more than a week after Sayyed Razi Mousavi was killed by an Israeli missile strike on the Sayida Zeinab neighbourhood near a Shi’ite shrine in the Syrian capital of Damascus. Iranian state media reported that Mousavi was posted at the embassy in Syria as a diplomat and was killed after returning home from work.[4] It should be emphasised that Iran is in Syria at the invitation of the Syrian government, to assist with combatting the US led regime change war.

The day before the appalling terrorist attack on the memorial gathering in Iran, an Israeli drone strike hit the southern suburbs of Beirut in Lebanon, which killed four Palestinians and three Lebanese. The target was deputy Hamas chief Saleh al-Arouri, who was at the time not meeting with the Hezbollah Shia resistance movement, but with Lebanon’s Sunni Islamist Jama’a Islamiya faction.[5] This was the first Israeli strike on Hamas outside of Palestine since the bloodthirsty criminal assault of Hamas on Israel on October 7 last year. Despite the obviously counter-productive terrorism carried out by Hamas over several decades, the Iranian government has funneled some material support to Hamas for its strikes against Israel. The governments of Iran, and Russia and others in the Middle East have had some negotiations with Hamas, to try to persuade it (in vain) to act at the very least in the manner of Hezbollah, which is a genuine resistance movement which does not carry out indiscriminate terrorism.

It is an open secret that ISIS (or ISIL, or ISIS-K, or ISKP, or IS) is a terrorist front behind which ultimately stands the notorious CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) of the United States of America (US), along with assistance from the United Kingdom’s (UK) MI6.[6] The recent history of ISIS terror attacks on Iran are merely a conduit of the desire of the US ruling class for regime change, ever since the Islamic Revolution of 1979. The ISIS terror attacks on Iran today are yet more war provocations designed to drag Iran into a wider Middle East conflict, which was arguably the very purpose of triggering the Israel/Hamas conflict on October 7. The October 7 attacks, which involved at least some collaboration between the IDF (Israeli Defence Force) and Hamas,[7] appeared to be a flow-on from Covid repression from 2020 to 2022, and the failed proxy war on Russia via the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) arming of Nazis in Ukraine.[8] Clearly, the strike on Beirut was designed to draw Hezbollah into this wider war, which Washington has so far been unable to do. Both Iran and Hezbollah have shown enormous discipline and self-restraint in not reacting (or over-reacting) to the latest US led war provocations. For, if one retaliates directly when being goaded by an enemy, it is the enemy who gains the upper hand, and the enemy becomes the one who calls the shots.

Iran and the BRICS

A US led war for regime change in Iran would have failed in previous decades, but today it would be nothing less than a debacle of horror. Iran today stands at its strongest point since 1979, and it is part of an alliance which gives it serious military backing against imperialism. At the end of November last year, Iran finalised the receipt of Sukhoi SU-35 fighter jets, Mi-28 attack helicopters and Yak-139 jet trainers direct from the Russian Federation. This delivery is broadly perceived to be a quid-pro-quo for Iran supplying Shahed-129 drones to Russia, for assistance with its anti-Nazi military operation in Ukraine.[9] This deal adds is a huge upgrade for Iran’s air force and air defence capabilities, as the SU-35 Russian made fighter jet is arguably the world’s best fighter jet[10] which is far more advanced than comparable Western made equivalents.

Iran’s military cooperation with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has also been steadily building from when it began during the 1980s – the first years of Iran’s revolution. In January 2021, the PRC allowed Iran to have access to its BeiDou Satellite Navigation system, which would increase the accuracy of Iran’s missiles – when Iran is already known to have the largest and most diverse stockpile of ballistic and cruise missiles in the Middle East.[11] These missiles can only be used for the defence of Iran, but have a range of up to 2000 kilometres in all directions from its borders. In March 2021, Iran and the PRC signed a ground-breaking 25-year cooperation agreement, which had been proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2016 and detailed in 2020.[12] This document strengthens military ties between the two nations, through joint training exercises, research and weapons development. In February of 2023, President Ebrahim Raisi officially welcomed the PRC’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and stated that Iran stands ready to facilitate world development with China, re-opening the ancient Silk Road.[13]

 On top of Iran’s military cooperation with the superpower allies of Russia and China, Iran officially became a full member of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) bloc on January 1, as announced by Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani.[14] Joining Iran in the BRICS is Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. The BRICS bloc is the major concern for US led imperialism, as it clearly offers not only an alternative to dealing with the US and European former colonial powers – it is itself a non-imperialist alliance. While it is of course true that the BRICS bloc is not politically led by anti-imperialists, much less socialists, the BRICS process nonetheless portends the rise of resistance to imperialism and its destructive course. This alone is reason enough for the ruling classes of the US and Europe to attempt to subvert, undermine and eventually bring down BRICS by any means necessary – up to and including a catastrophic world war.

For a real anti-war movement

In the West, hundreds of thousands of people have mobilised in ongoing demonstrations in an attempt to stop the US backed Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Yet these actions have scarcely made a dent in the plans of the Zionist state and its Western benefactors. Why is this? Primarily, these demonstrations have not been genuinely anti-war, nor anti-imperialist in an of themselves. This is largely due to leadership from opportunist left parties which see Israel/Palestine in a virtual vacuum, unconnected to the wider Middle East, not to speak of imperialist plans for global war generally. These “edge lord anti-imperialists”[15] have in practice valorised terrorism[16] by apologising for, or even defending, the actions of Hamas. Some of these so-called left parties have even acted to suppress criticism of terrorism, claiming that it is a necessary part of “resistance”.[17] Needless to say, this prevents larger sections of the working class from becoming involved, as many of them genuinely desire an end to the bombing of Gaza and the danger of a wider war – but correctly do not wish to be identified with a movement which is practically calling for more terrorist violence, and hence more war. 

More than this, the leadership of the “Stand with Palestine” movement actually aligns itself with the war aims of imperialism, as they falsely claim that Russia and China are themselves “imperialist” !! Granted, some of them can see that a war on Iran and Russia and China would be world threatening, but their political positions are generally in favour of regime change in Iran, Russia and China – albeit with general protestations about supporting their “people” or even their “workers”. That is, while they claim they oppose imperialism, they nonetheless carry out the same political stances of the imperialists they forswear. While it is ultimately the case that in Russia and Iran a workers’ state needs to emerge, in the PRC it is only a proletarian political revolution which is required, as the workers’ state on the Chinese mainland has remained intact since 1949.

What is desperately needed is a genuine anti-war movement, which opposes imperialist designs on Palestine, but also on Iran, Russia and China. It also needs to link these wars to the war at home – the staggering increases to the cost of living and basic necessities for working people. The working class internationally is crying out for genuine leadership, which can only be sustained by authentic vanguard parties forged with unfalsified Leninism, as the first crucial step towards a socialist order.

WORKERS  LEAGUE 

www.redfireonline.com    

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

 

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[1] www.outlookindia.com/international/iram-blasts-general-qassem-soleimani-memorial-kerman-bombing-death-toll-terror-attack-news-340707 (07-01-2024)

[2] www.npr.org/2024/01/05/1223036572/an-afghan-branch-of-isis-claims-responsibility-for-a-deadly-attack-in-iran (07-01-2024)

[3] www.straitstimes.com/asia/islamic-state-claims-responsibility-for-attacks-that-killed-nearly-100-people-in-iran-group-on-telegram (07-01-2024)

[4] www.theweek.in/news/world/2023/12/26/who-was-razi-mousavi-top-irgc-general-killed-by-israel-was-a-close-aide-of-qassem-suleimani.html (07-01-2024)

[5] www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/explosion-southern-beirut-suburb-dahiyeh-two-security-sources-2024-01-02/ (07-01-2024)

[6] www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/jun/03/us-isis-syria-iraq (07-01-2024)

[7] www.lemonde.fr/en/israel-palestine/article/2023/12/01/new-york-times-investigation-reports-israel-knew-about-hamas-october-7-attack-plan_6305821_139.html (07-01-2024)

[8] www.redfireonline.com/2023/10/16/the-west-ignites-another-proxy-war-in-the-middle-east/ (07-01-2024)

[9] www.airforce-technology.com/news/signal-iran-finalises-receipt-of-sukhoi-su-35-jets-from-russia/?cf-view (07-01-2024)

[10] www.warriormaven.com/air/why-russia-s-su-35-jet-fighter-is-one-of-the-best-ever-made (07-01-2024)

[11] www.missilethreat.csis.org/country/iran/ (07-01-2024)

[12] www.iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2023/jun/28/iran-china-military-ties (07-01-2024)

[13] www.english.scio.gov.cn/beltandroad/2023-02/17/content_85111753.htm (07-01-2024)

[14] www.tehrantimes.com/news/493181/Iran-officially-becomes-member-of-BRICS-Spokesman (07-01-2024)

[15] www.ground.news/article/nyt-columnist-slams-american-left-for-justifying-hamass-atrocities-edgelord-anti-imperialists (07-01-2024)

[16] www.apicciano.commons.gc.cuny.edu/2023/10/17/michelle-goldberg-the-massacre-in-israel-and-the-need-for-a-decent-left/ (07-01-2024)

[17] www.redfireonline.com/2023/12/11/stand-with-palestine-anti-war-or-pro-war/ (07-01-2024)

Image: The aftermath of the twin bombings at the memorial for General Qassem Soleimani on January 3 in Kerman, Iran, for which ISIS has claimed responsibility. http://www.tribune.com.pk