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’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.