25-04-2026: Two days before a ceasefire between the United States of America (US) and the Islamic Republic of Iran was due to expire, the US military fired upon and seized the Iran flagged MV Touska, a commercial vessel. The USS Spruance destroyer intercepted the ship in the Gulf of Oman, not in the Strait of Hormuz.[1] The 900-foot Touska had departed from Port Klang in Malaysia, and it can carry roughly 5000 standard shipping containers. The US interception took place in international waters,[2] when the Touska was said to be heading towards the Chabahar port in Iran. The US forces opened fire on the vessel, disabled its navigation systems and deployed Marines onto its deck to seize the ship. In response, Iran labelled it an act of maritime piracy, and launched drone strikes on US vessels in the region.[3] The US appears to be on a course now where it will attempt to interdict any ships travelling to or from Iran in any sea or ocean where they may be, in international waters or not.

Blockade the blockade

US President Donald Trump’s “blockade of the blockade” appears as a farcical attempt to appear strong before either re-starting hostilities or seeking an off-ramp. In what seems like a first, Trump forced Israeli PM Netanyahu to accept a brief halt to their bombing of Lebanon.[4] There is considerable doubt that the US military is able to blockade the Strait of Hormuz, or stop ships coming in and going out of Iranian ports in any case. Despite the seizure of the Touska, it is suspected that some 40 other ships have recently exited the Strait of Hormuz. The US Navy has its ships in the Gulf of Oman or further away, out of range of Iranian ballistic missiles. Though, one suspects that Iran, if it so wished, could use a hypersonic missile to target US Navy destroyers or potentially even the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. With Iran’s virtual destruction of US bases in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the US has very few options if it wishes to embark on what would be a catastrophic ground invasion of Iran.

Despite this, the Russian Security Council made a public statement that, on the basis of its intelligence, the US and Israel could be using the peace talks as a cover to prepare a ground invasion of Iran. The Russian Security Council noted that the US Joint Central Command has reported there are more than 50 000 US troops in the region, more than 250 tactical aircraft and over 20 US Navy ships. Moreover, the deployment of units from the 82^nd Airborne Division to the Middle East continues, and the universal amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (carrying 2500 Marines) and the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush is moving into the region.[5] It is rare for the Russian Security Council to make such an announcement, but given the intelligence they would have access to, it is a significant warning.

The Unipolar Hegemon’s Last Stand

The criminal and barbaric imperialist war on Iran cannot be understood on its own. It must be seen in connection with the last efforts of the decaying US unipolar hegemon to drag the world down with it as it exits the stage of history. It is plain to see that US imperialism, representing the last stage of capitalism, is attempting to block energy and trade with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). On virtually all fronts, the socialistic PRC has surpassed floundering Western capitalism, and the US ruling class is waging a multi-theatre war to prevent its further growth and development. The PRC’s stupendous industrial, economic, manufacturing and scientific advances lay a material basis for the rising multipolar world – China and all of its allies in the Global South. However deformed and imperfect the PRC workers’ state may be, it needs to be acknowledged that its success is based on public ownership of the major and strategic means of production, nationalised land and a planned economy. This stands in stark contrast to the political, economic, financial and cultural decline of privatised capitalism in the US and Europe.

It is true that the US has sought regime change in Iran ever since the 1979 revolution. But today, Iran’s energy imports to China are what Washington seeks to block entirely. This is also the basic reason for the US Empire’s kidnapping of Venezuelan President Maduro, and the starvation blockade on Cuba. Venezuela was next in line to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa plus 15 other Global South States), and Cuba is a partner member. Even though BRICS is a financial and economic partnership, it is starting to lay out an alternative to the US dominated world order. The US led proxy war on Russia via Ukraine is still raging, and US imperialism is still attempting to “Ukrainise” Taiwan to use as a base for an improbable proxy war on China. The US empire, even if it is in its worst political shape in more than 100 years, is thus simultaneously waging hybrid war on the three main pillars of multipolarity – Iran, Russia and China. This means World War III – which must be prevented at all costs.

The betrayal of the imperial left

The muted response of the majority of the Western left is glaring and ranks as a betrayal on the scale of their capitulations before imperialism on the Covid reign of terror and the arming of Nazis in Ukraine to fight Russia on behalf of NATO. With some exceptions, they can barely bring themselves to mention the war on Iran, let alone oppose it. They largely reflect the ossified Union bureaucracy and the Australian Greens, who mouth opposition to the war on Iran while simultaneously demanding regime change in Iran. Socialist Alternative recently held their annual flagship “Marxism” conference – with barely a word even spoken about the US/Israeli war on Iran.[6] They cannot even bring themselves to utter the words “No War on Iran”. Despite their rhetoric, they agree in practice with Trump and Netanyahu wholeheartedly that regime change in Iran is a priority. If you agree with the aim of the war on Iran, then you are hardly going to oppose a force which is carrying out that aim – even if that force is US imperialism itself. Solidarity is able to recognise reality to a greater extent, as it observes that the failing war on Iran is a defeat for the US.[7] They can see that Trump’s unhinged rants about “obliterating Iranian civilisation” hold it up for ridicule, yet they themselves cheer lead any and all regime change riots organised in Iran. Socialist Alliance do actually say “No War on Iran” but likewise are enthusiastic partisans of regime change.[8]

To their credit, Trotskyist Platform (TP) did initiate a rally in Western Sydney on March 28 on the basis of “Defend Iran”. They claim that this was the first action in Australia to do so, but in fact they were beaten to the punch by a “Stand with Iran” action held in Brisbane on March 15. Yet TP appear unaware of their own role in contributing to the current US led regime change war on Iran. From 2011, TP did initially also oppose the US led proxy war on Syria, which led to the barbarous crimes of ISIS and Al Qaeda. However, from the moment that the Russian Federation intervened in Syria at the invitation of the then Syrian government, TP effectively dropped their defence of Syria out of Russophobia. TP at the time was still trying to tiptoe away from its reactionary position of alleged “Russian imperialism”.[9] In turn, US imperialism used the opportunity of the over-extension of Russia via the NATO led “UkroNazi” proxy war to collapse Syria in December 2024, and install ISIS and Al Qaeda in “government” in Damascus.

Red Spark also break from the imperial left in their defence of Iran which is effectively carrying out a self-sacrificing anti-imperialist asymmetric war for themselves and others in the region, including Lebanon and Palestine and Yemen. They have posted documents from forces of the Axis of Resistance in the region, which lays bare the clearly progressive character of Iran’s actions. However, they mistakenly include Hamas as part of the Axis of Resistance alongside actual resistance forces such as Hezbollah in Lebanon and Ansar Allah in Yemen.[10] Red Ant also dissociate themselves from the imperial left, and recognise the necessity of Iranian self-defence as well as the Iraqi Shia resistance forces which have achieved the extraordinary result of expelling virtually all US troops from Iraq for the first time since 2003.[11]

The vast majority of the working class do not at all support a war on Iran and are aghast at the prospect of World War III. The mainstream “left”, tailing the Australian Greens, are behind the masses who are not interested in overthrowing Iran and are far more interested in driving down the outrageous cost of living. Fuel prices are currently stable but may again skyrocket if the war on Iran resumes, along with food prices and for many other basic goods. It is intolerable that working people are expected to cop yet more unaffordable costs along with a criminal war of aggression in the Middle East. Genuine Marxist vanguard parties would link both the war and the cost-of-living crisis directly and seek to draw the masses into the understanding that the imperialist war on Iran and China and the Global South is also a war on themselves. The time of capitalism has ended, and the era of socialism has dawned. Victory to Iran! Lift the sanctions on Iran and Russia! Abolish AUKUS! No to War! US/AUS troops: Out of the Middle East!

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

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[1] www.theweek.in/news/middle-east/2026/04/20/contradicting-data-claims-on-irans-touska-cargo-ships-origin-port-and-what-it-is-carrying-after-capture-by-us-marines.html (22-04-2026)

[2] www.financialexpress.com/world-news/inside-the-touska-us-military-seizes-sanctioned-900-foot-iranian-cargo-ship-travelling-from-malaysia/4212580 (22-04-2026)

[3] www.moneycontrol.com/world/iran-launches-drone-strikes-at-us-vessels-after-touska-seizure-calls-action-maritime-piracy-article-13893566.html (22-04-2026)

[4] www.mondoweiss.net/2026/04/trump-may-want-out-of-the-iran-war-but-the-first-round-of-negotiations-showed-the-challenges-ahead/ (22-04-2026)

[5] www.tass.com/politics/2117055 (22-04-2026)

[6] www.redflag.org.au/article/marxism-2026-gives-hope-to-a-new-left/ (22-04-2026)

[7] www.solidarity.net.au/highlights/trumps-failure-in-iran-is-a-defeat-for-us-power/ (22-04-2026)

[8] www.greenleftonline.podbean.com/e/on-the-streets-hands-off-lebanon-iran-and-palestine/ (22-04-2026)

[9] www.redfireonline.com/2017/07/23/left-wing-russophobia-a-perilous-disorder/ (22-04-2026)

[10] www.red-spark.org/2026/04/02/resistance-voices-7-iran-targets-us-tech-companies-palestinian-resistance-calls-for-mass-uprising-and-more/ (22-04-2026)

[11] www.redantcollective.org/2026/04/02/armed-struggle-liberates-iraq-after-23-years-of-occupation/ (22-04-2026)


Image: US forces patrolling in the Arabian Sea after the MV Touska, an Iranian flagged cargo vessel. http://www.middleeasteye.net