TUDEH condemns US attacks against Iran

After the renewed and widespread invasion of our homeland by American imperialism, heavy military clashes between Iran and the United States resumed. According to published reports, these clashes resulted in the deaths of 17 people and the injury of dozens of our compatriots. These military clashes once again demonstrated the fragility and instability of the current situation and brought to the attention of world public opinion the serious danger that the warmongers in the United States, in the racist regime of Israel, and in Iran threaten our region. We have repeatedly pointed out this danger and instability of the situation recently. The developments of recent days also show that Iran is neither on the path to lasting peace nor on the verge of political stability.

The new military attacks, the renewed insecurity of shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranian government’s attempt to show its power at Ali Khamenei’s funeral, and the announcement that the turnout at the ceremony was a referendum supporting the Velayat-e-Faqih regime, along with the continuation of the deep economic crisis, all indicate a situation that can be called a “permanent crisis” of the government. This crisis is not only a product of the foreign policies of imperialism and its allies in the region, but also a direct result of the political and security structure of the Islamic Republic.

At a time when the country needs to move towards lasting peace and normalize the situation in society for the people to live, threatening to “revenge” on the perpetrators of the assassination of the leaders of the Islamic Republic and aiding Israel’s propaganda campaign about the danger that Iran poses to Trump’s life only serves the interests of warmongers in Iran and the region who are strongly opposed to establishing lasting peace. According to reports by the American media outlets The Wall Street Journal and CNN, last week, Israel provided the Trump administration with confidential information that alleges that the Islamic Republic has prepared a plan to assassinate US President Donald Trump. According to reports from the same “intelligence” campaign, Israel played a direct role in Trump’s decisions to resume the attack on Iran and his comments on the end of the ceasefire, as well as in his harsh insults to the leaders of the Islamic Republic. According to CNN, some American officials believe that this “information” was designed with the aim of defeating the diplomatic process. Parts of this campaign by Netanyahu’s criminal government also rely on provocative statements by a number of Islamic Republic leaders. For example, Ahmad Vahidi, commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard Corps, said in a message on the occasion of Ali Khamenei’s funeral: “Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s bloodlust and the punishment of its perpetrators and commanders will remain a definitive, legitimate, and unforgettable demand.”

On Wednesday, July 8, Ezatollah Zarghami, while referring to the US President's presence in Turkey — to attend the NATO summit — claimed that Donald Trump is available “for retribution”, but Iran has not targeted him to maintain friendship and good neighbourliness with its neighbours. The message attributed to Mojtaba Khamenei also stated, “Revenge is the will of the nation and will definitely be carried out.”

For the hard core of power in the Islamic Republic, war and external threats are not just a military danger, but also an opportunity to rebuild the worn-out authority of a crisis-ridden regime. In recent decades, the Islamic Republic has repeatedly shown that, when faced with difficult challenges and widespread popular protests, it resorts to the language of violent and bloody repression and ideological mobilization instead of responding to the people’s demands. The greater the external pressure, the more closed the regime’s internal space becomes. In such circumstances, when the voice of social protest is raised, the regime attributes it to a “foreign enemy.”

Ali Khamenei’s funeral must be seen in this context. The regime tried to turn the event into a stage to showcase unity, power, and the continuity of the government. But behind this show lies another reality: a tired, poor, angry, and distrustful society. The organized presence of regime supporters at the event cannot hide the deep gap between the overwhelming majority of the people and the power structure. A regime that is always forced to resort to staging to prove its public acceptance and legitimacy is, in fact, experiencing a serious crisis of legitimacy and public acceptance.

The rising flames of war, which are taking on more dangerous dimensions every day, undoubtedly harm our national interests. The extremist and warmongering forces in the hard core of the Islamic Republic's power and their affiliates, who propagate and implement warmongering and tension-creating policies, undoubtedly contribute to the strategic policies of American imperialism and the racist Israeli regime.

Now, following a third round of massive attacks by US forces, which US Central Command said targeted more than 80 locations in Iran, and then retaliatory Iranian attacks on US military bases in Oman, Jordan and Kuwait, Iran has announced that it is closing the Strait of Hormuz. Lately, the US CBS network reported, citing senior US officials, that Iranian officials have told Donald Trump's advisers in private conversations that the attack on commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz was a “mistake” and that the action was a request from some hardliners aimed at undermining negotiations.

The Tudeh Party of Iran, while expressing serious concern about the new round of military confrontations, believes that dragging Iran into the trap of the criminal regime of Israel and US imperialism's plans to continue military conflicts will only lead to further destruction of the country's productive structures and an increase in poverty and deprivation of the working people. Today, the Iranian nation is simultaneously the victim of two destructive currents: on the one hand, the interventionist, and militarist policies of US imperialism and its allies in the region, and on the other, a government that has plunged the country into crisis and led it towards isolation and erosion through adventurism, repression, and corruption. Our firm opposition and that of the country's progressive and freedom-loving forces to US military aggression does not mean remaining silent in the face of domestic tyranny, just as opposition to the Islamic Republic should not lead to welcoming bombing and sanctions by foreign powers and the destruction of the country.

The country’s growing economic crisis, which has made ordinary life more difficult for tens of millions of Iranians than ever before, is not simply a management problem, contrary to some “expert” statements in the country’s authorized newspapers, but rather a structural crisis and a direct result of anti-national and anti-interest policies aimed at securing the interests of the country’s big capitalists, which Ali Khamenei’s office has been dictating to various governments appointed by the Supreme Leader for decades. Inflation, the collapse of the national currency, increasing poverty, unemployment, corruption, and inequality are the daily and horrific realities of life in the Islamic Republic. Holding Ali Khamenei’s funeral along with government propaganda will not change this situation. In such circumstances, the government, while maintaining the “no war, no peace” policy and making society more secure than ever, continues to violently and bloodily suppress any voice of protest in the country to ensure its survival. The main problem is that the Islamic Republic is unable to resolve internal crises and only tries to manage them and use them for its survival. War, crisis, and social insecurity are tools to push back civil society, justify repression, and strengthen military and security institutions. In such a situation, the progressive and democratic forces of Iran have a heavy and difficult responsibility: they must simultaneously stand up to external threats, war, and military intervention, and not remain silent in the face of domestic tyranny.

The path to Iran's salvation lies neither through foreign bombing nor through the illusion of structural reform, which has repeatedly shown itself unwilling to back down from the will of the people and the demands of the working class. Iran needs peace, but not a peace that only guarantees the survival of tyranny. Iran requires stability, but not a stability built on the foundation of freedom and social justice. Real and lasting peace can only be achieved when it is accompanied by political freedoms, economic justice, the right to organize, an end to oppression, and the free participation of the people in determining their destiny.

Today, the fundamental question is not how the government will overcome the next crisis. The fundamental question is how the nation can overcome the cycle of war, poverty, repression, and tyranny. The answer to this question lies neither in the decision-making rooms of the imperialist countries nor in the decision-making rooms of the “Bayt,” the IRGC, the Shaam, and the monopolistic leaders of the Islamic Republic. The answer lies in the formation of a broad popular, peace-loving, justice-seeking, and democratic movement, a movement that can both oppose foreign warmongering and confront domestic tyranny. The Islamic Republic is trying to overcome the crisis and continue its survival, but no government can survive forever on the basis of fear and repression, poverty and deprivation, and urgency and securitization. The future of Iran lies not in the displays of oppressive government power, but in the organized power of the people who consider democratic rights and freedoms, a decent life, social justice, and peace as their right.