STAND AGAINST THE AGGRESSION OF GLOBAL BANDIT U.S. IMPERIALISM AND ISRAELI ZIONISM, SUPPORT THE IRANIAN PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE TO BUILD A FREE AND DEMOCRATIC FUTURE!
U.S. imperialism and the reactionary Zionism of Israel have launched a new wave of war to plunge the region into bloodshed and chaos. The peoples of the region are once again being dragged into a new period of massacre and brutality.
For U.S. imperialism and Israeli Zionism, it is already evident that they cannot easily achieve their objectives through their attacks on Iran (just as in Lebanon). The developments following the beginning of these attacks and Iran’s response demonstrate this clearly. Despite the assassination of Iran’s spiritual leader and leading military, political, and intelligence figures, Iran has continued the war by expanding it. This alone stands as concrete proof of this reality.
The imperialist and Zionist aggression stretching today from Palestine to Iran is part of a broader project aimed at the redivision and restructuring of the region. The reactionary war shaped by imperialist aggression threatens not only Iran but the entire Middle East. While the aggression of U.S. imperialism and Israeli Zionism constitutes the coercive force behind this restructuring, the Gulf monarchies, regional collaborators, and the network of military bases provide the logistical and political foundations of this process.
The reconfiguration of the balance of power in the region is being shaped by the direct and indirect interventions of imperialist powers. These interventions are carried out not only through military means but also through economic and political instruments.
The Middle East and its surrounding regions are among the richest areas in the world in terms of energy resources, while also occupying a central position in global trade and the world economy. The region’s oil and natural gas reserves supply a major share of global energy demand, while straits such as the Strait of Hormuz and Bab el Mandeb are critical transit points for global maritime trade. Bab al-Mandeb, through which goods worth roughly two trillion dollars pass each year, is a vital bottleneck that directly affects the security and continuity of trade between Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, approximately 20-30 percent of the world’s oil and about 20 percent of global LNG trade pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports move through Kharg Island, while infrastructure such as Qatar’s LNG facilities and Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery plays a decisive role in determining global energy prices and supply. Logistics hubs such as Dubai’s international airport further accelerate the flow of not only energy but also global trade through the region. Bab al-Mandeb, through which goods worth roughly two trillion dollars pass each year, is a vital bottleneck that directly affects the safety and continuity of trade between Africa and Asia. Meanwhile, approximately 20-30 percent of the world’s oil and about 20 percent of global LNG trade pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Nearly 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports move through Kharg Island, while infrastructure such as Qatar’s LNG facilities and Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery plays a decisive role in determining global energy prices and supply. Logistics hubs such as Dubai’s international airport further accelerate the flow of not only energy but also global trade through the region.
Its position at the centre of international finance, logistics, and production chains makes the region indispensable for the stability of the global economy. Iran has become a central target of U.S. imperialism and Israeli Zionism precisely because it stands at the heart of this strategically vital region.
The sanctions, attacks, and repression imposed by the United States on Iran threaten not only the Iranian state but also the security of energy supply and trade across the entire region. Restrictions on Iran’s energy exports produce supply shortages and price fluctuations in global markets, thereby destabilizing the global economic balance.
Another dimension of the aggression directed at Iran is the ongoing reshaping of power relations among imperialist powers themselves. U.S. military and economic interventions in the region are part of a strategy to reshape Middle Eastern power relations and safeguard its own interests. The increasing interest of rising powers such as Russia and China in the region intensifies global competition, and Iran is being targeted partly to limit their influence. In recent years, Russia and China have made notable strategic moves in the region. Russia has expanded its influence through energy cooperation with Iran, while China has invested heavily in ports and infrastructure projects across the Middle East as part of ist ‘‘Belt and Road” Initiative. The energy agreements China has signed with Gulf countries are strengthening both its own energy safety and its economic relations with countries in the region. China’s growing relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran are also contributing to the emergence of a new balance of power that challenges the long-standing dominance of the United States in the region. Russia, for its part, is deepening its influence through military bases, arms sales, regional alliances, and its role in global energy markets. For this reason, wars and conflicts in the region have consequences that extend far beyond local dynamics and directly affect the reshaping of global economic and political power relations.
Whatever the outcome of this process may be, it will further deepen the contradictions of the imperialist system and accelerate its inevitable march toward the dustbin of history.
The Imperialist System and the Structural Character of War
“To remove the disproportion between the development of the productive forces and the accumulation of capital on the one hand, and the division of colonies and spheres of influence of finance capital on the other, what other means than war could there be under capitalism?” (Lenin)
Imperialism, as defined by Lenin, is not merely a foreign policy choice. It represents a historical stage of monopoly capitalism, finance capital, and the global struggle for the redivision of the world. In this stage, war should not be interpreted as a “mistake” or as the “adventure of mad leaders.” War is a structural tool used to overcome crises in the system of overproduction, to redefine spheres of influence, and to consolidate class domination both internally and externally. With the development of the capitalist economy, the concentration and monopolization of capital, and the transformation of national markets into components of the world economy, the law of maximum profit has imposed the constant need for expansion. As a result, the continual redivision of world markets has become inevitable.
Imperialism, described by Lenin as “decaying, moribund capitalism,” “a giant with feet of clay,” and by Mao as a “paper tiger”, has intensified and sharpened all the fundamental contradictions of our era. These contradictions inherent in capitalism have transformed wars from a matter of choice into a necessity.
The imperialist system, by its very nature, produces constantly shifting balances of power: some powers weaken while others strengthen. The contradictions between imperialist alliances are shaped around the conflict between rising capitalist powers seeking expansion and declining powers attempting to preserve the old status quo.
Economic crises in the imperialist stage of capitalism, manifest themselves not only through financial collapses but also through intensified competition among imperialist powers. As crises deepen, the struggle to redivide markets sharpens. For imperialists, the fundamental crisis lies in losing markets and diminishing their economic influence. The imperialist system uses terms such as “humanitarian intervention,” “democracy,” “war on terror,” “fight against drugs,” and “nuclear threat” to legitimize its aggression and ideologically mask it.
However, no matter how much these statements are glossed over, imperialist wars do not bring freedom to peoples; they bring destruction that can last for decades. These unjust wars are used as a tactic not only in foreign policy, but also in domestic politics. While the costs of crises are imposed upon the working masses, opposition is suppressed through the rhetoric of “security,” and nationalism is inflamed in order to rally the masses behind the ruling classes.
U.S. Imperialism Seeks to Instrumentalize Opposition Forces in Iran
The people shaping their own future by relying on their own strength is completely different from attempting to shape their own future by becoming servants of imperialists. US imperialism wants to use the remnants of the Shah era, the People’s Mujahideen, and especially the Kurdish forces as a “ground force” in the war it has waged against Iran. Imperialists create conflict and hostility among peoples, making moves by provoking existing conflicts and hostilities. This well-known strategy has always brought disaster to the people. Forces that allow themselves to be used by imperialism inevitably become its instruments. And once imperialists find more useful tools, they discard the old ones without hesitation Imperialists, however, can easily sacrifice their old puppets when they find new, better ones. Therefore, those who transform themselves into convenient instruments for imperialism must understand that what they will gain is not independence. What awaits them instead is condemnation by the oppressed peoples of the world and the creation of lasting hostility among other nations.
Imperialist Aggression, Reaction, and the Independent Struggle of the Oppressed Peoples
All imperialist powers, above all U.S. imperialism are the principal enemies of oppressed peoples and nations. Imperialist aggression must therefore be the primary target of antiimperialists, and attacks against any country must be clearly condemned.
The source of all reaction lies in the system itself, and it is reproduced under various conditions and forms by the system. In the concrete case of Iran, the fascist-feudal Mullah regime and the ruling classes of Iran are ruthless enemies of the people. From the moment they seized power, they brutally massacred revolutionary and progressive forces, destroyed progressive organizations, and plunged Iranian people into darkness. To this day, they continue to oppress the working class, women, the poor, youth, and oppressed nationalities and religious groups. It is a reactionary regime and an enemy of the people.
Regardless of the circumstances or reason, we are not obliged to support either of these two forms of reaction.
At this point, the theoretical and political distinction is of great importance. The antiimperialist line must place independent class politics, the self-organization of the peoples, and international solidarity at its centre. On the one hand stands imperialist aggression, and on the other domestic reaction; both forces attempt to draw social opposition to their own side. For whatever reason, carrying the banner of reaction and aligning behind it means becoming part of that reaction.
What the oppressed must do is unite under their own banner and struggle against both imperialist aggression and domestic reaction.
People can only overcome this double bind through their own independent struggles. “Liberation” programs that rely on external intervention create new chains of dependency, while the discourse of “resistance” based on reactionary forces within the country suppresses the people’s demands for freedom and equality. Therefore, we must stand neither with imperialist aggressors nor with reactionary states, but with the oppressed peoples.
It is necessary to oppose both the imperialist-Zionist aggression against Iran and the regime that keeps the Iranian people under oppression. Our line stands outside and against these two poles: it is the revolutionary and independent line of the people against imperialism and reaction. This line includes the peoples of Iran from various nationalities, oppressed nations and beliefs, and the revolutionary and progressive forces that have long been struggling against Iranian reaction.
In this sense, these forces should be supported in developing a common line of struggle against both imperialist aggression and local reaction. In such processes, which reactionary state is stronger or weaker in their quarrels among themselves is not decisive for us. The essential issue is that oppressed peoples and the working class establish an independent line of struggle based on their own strength. We trust the oppressed people and believe in their strength. Because it has been shown throughout human history that when faced with imperialist aggression and local reactionary forces, the organization of peoples in unity for their own interests has historically led to the rise of revolutionary movements. This line of struggle stands outside and against imperialist and reactionary blocs and is based on the demands of peoples for freedom and equality.
Each class mourns for its own dead and carries the pain and rage of its own class in its heart. Neither gathering under the banner of imperialist aggression nor reactionary, antipeople regimes, nor taking a position that shares the pain of the representatives of both reactionary forces, is the stance that antiimperialists and revolutionaries should take. Let the reactionaries gather under their own flags, carry the photos of their own dead, and be left alone with their own pain. Let the reactionaries unite under their own banners, carry the photographs of their own dead, and remain alone with their own pain. We, on the other hand, carry in our hearts the pain of oppressed and suppressed nations, peoples, the working class, and revolutionaries; and we honor those of the oppressed who have become immortal.
For this reason, the stance of antiimperialists is twofold and quite clear:
1) Our priority must be to expose imperialist aggression and build international solidarity among workers and oppressed peoples against it. We unequivocally condemn the aggression of U.S. imperialism and Israeli Zionism against Iran. This imperialist aggression must stop. Imperialist aggression is legitimized not only externally but also internally through the language of universal terms in order to manufacture consent. Terms such as “humanitarian intervention,” “democracy,” and the “war on terror” serve as instruments of this ideological camouflage. However, these attacks will not bring freedom to oppressed peoples; they will bring destruction and dependency lasting for many years. Therefore, regardless of how imperialist aggression is justified, our duty is to stand with the peoples and develop a common struggle against thia aggression.
2) Our solidarity is not with Iran’s ruling class, but with the Iranian people who live under the pressure of imperialist aggression and domestic reactionaries, and who are fighting for a democratic and just life. The Mullah regime in Iran is reactionary and enemy of the people, oppressing the working class, women, the poor, youth, and oppressed nations and religions. The line we support is for the people to unite under their own banner and wage a revolutionary and independent struggle against imperialist aggression and local reactionary forces. Standing under the banner of reactionary forces means suppressing the people’s demands for freedom and equality and therefore must be rejected.
All antiimperialist forces, the world proletariat, oppressed peoples, and all forces against imperialist aggression must fight against unjust wars and the manipulation of oppressed nations and peoples as puppets in wars of redivision and must develop international solidarity.
We emphasize once again that the basis of this solidarity is not to be pawns on the chessboard of imperialists and local reactionaries, but for oppressed peoples to liberate themselves through their own struggles. While liberation programs based on external intervention create new dependencies, the discourse of resistance leaning on reactionaries internally suppresses the demands of the people; therefore, our struggle must be based on the self-organization and independence of the oppressed peoples.
Imperialist wars of aggression create new revolutionary opportunities for oppressed peoples and proletarian movements.
As has repeatedly been the case throughout history, imperialist crises and wars can transform into periods where the exploited classes and peoples rise up, and revolutionary struggle intensifies.
In order to transform these processes in the interests of the people, antiimperialist forces and revolutionary movements must organize their struggle against imperialism, fascism, and reactionary forces in forms that will strike at the very foundations of the system. In this context, antiimperialist struggles of the working class and oppressed peoples against imperialist war policies, encompassing the goals of the Democratic People’s Revolution and socialism, become inevitable.
Let us strengthen the struggle and resistance against imperialist and Zionist aggression, especially that of the Iranian and Palestinian peoples of all nationalities. The common line of struggle should aim at uniting the oppressed peoples on an independent and revolutionary path against both imperialist aggressors and domestic reactionaries.
No people is a pawn on the chessboard of imperialists and domestic reactionary classes. Supporting and participating in the struggles of peoples for independence and democracy, and of oppressed nations for the right of self-determination, is our fundamental principle.
Each class must unite under its own banner and fight for the interests of its own class.
THE UNITED STRUGGLE OF OPPRESSED PEOPLES IS OUR POWER OF RESISTANCE AGAINST IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION!
LET US STAND AGAINST IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION AND ALL FORMS OF REACTION!
UNITE, STRUGGLE, SEND IMPERIALISM AND ALL ENEMIES OF THE PEOPLE TO THE DUSTBIN OF HISTORY!
TO END UNJUST WARS, WAGE JUST WARS!
COORDINATING COMMITTEE OF THE ANTIIMPERIALIST LEAGUE
March 2026
