Tag: 1979 Iranian revolution

End the Bombing of Iran; No Blood for Oil!

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U.S., Israel Hands Off Iran

The massive bombing of Iran unleashed by the U.S. and Israeli governments on February 28, 2026, has thrust the Middle East into a regional war. This is an imperialist war shaking the Mideast and threatening world peace. It has set back prospects for the Iranian people to eventually rid themselves of the oppressive regime in Tehran. It is a war for oil. Ranked third after Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, Iran sits atop one of the largest oil reserves in the world. Taking control of these enormous assets would put the U.S. military in a better position to face a future war with China — Washington’s top competitor. All this is done at the expense of working- and middle-class people in Iran and across the region.

Revolution and Counter-revolution in Iran: Origins of Clerical Regime

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This article was first published by World-Outlook on May 6, 2024, as the second of the two-part news analysis “Iran-Israel Shadow War: Its Role in Mideast Conflict.” We are re-publishing it now to bring it to the attention of all our readers — including more than 100 who have subscribed since it first appeared — because it provides valuable background information relevant to understanding current events in the Middle East.

Iran-Israel Shadow War: Its Role in Mideast Conflict (II)

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Iran’s theocracy took power through a counter-revolution in the 1980s. The clerics crushed the independent struggle of Iranian workers and peasants who had carried out a popular uprising in 1979. That social revolution had reverberated across the region and the world. The mobilization of working people toppled the U.S.-backed monarchy of the shah — a brutal and hated regime. Since it tamed the mass struggle, the theocracy has held on to power through periodic brutal crackdowns on any expression of opposition to the Islamist regime. This article sketches the origins of this regime that underlie its current trajectory, including the damage it has inflicted on the Palestinian struggle.

Iran-Israel Shadow War: Its Role in Mideast Conflict (I)

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Iran and Israel traded direct airstrikes on each other’s territory, for the first time, in a confrontation in April that raised the danger of a full-blown regional war. Both governments, however, stepped back from the brink after Israel chose to launch a limited strike in response to Iran’s large but ineffective rocket barrage aimed at Israel. Having avoided further direct military conflict, both countries returned to their long-running shadow war, in which Iran’s strategy is to arm and direct allied militias such as Hezbollah. These developments also shed light on Tehran’s pretentious “support” for the Palestinian liberation struggle. The clerical regime uses such posturing to prop up its dictatorial hold on power in Iran and its reactionary reach through proxy armies across the Mideast. Many Palestinians in the occupied territories, as well as working people and others in Iran, are beginning to see through such grandstanding and now openly oppose it.