On 8 July, in response to Iran targeting three oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, US President Donald Trump told a NATO summit in Turkey that the ceasefire agreement with Iran was over and that the leadership of Iran were ‘scum’ and ‘vicious, violent people’. He was speaking just after the US launched over 80 military strikes on southern Iran.
Trump’s language expresses not just his own depravity, but also the frustration and desperation of the US ruling class. The US’s initial war aims of regime change and an end to Iran’s nuclear programme remain unfulfilled. Far from the Iranian military and government collapsing, by blocking shipping through the Strait of Hormuz – the artery through which Gulf oil, gas, petrochemicals and fertiliser reach the world – Iran has been able to damage the economies of the US and the world.
By resisting the US and Israel’s attacks, the prestige of the Iranian government has massively increased. Unprecedented numbers of people, both in Iran and Iraq, came out onto the streets for the funeral procession of the assassinated Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. On 6 July in Tehran the procession was attended by a reported 15 million people. Along the route mourners called for revenge against US imperialism and workers hung an effigy of Trump from a crane. The next day on 7 July Khamenei’s body was flown into the holy city of Najaf in Iraq where millions of Iraqis came out on the streets to show their respect.
The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on 18 June by the US and Iran was an attempt by the US to get the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping again as its closure is causing mounting economic problems for all the imperialist powers. The MoU was supposed to lead to a 60-day cessation of military operations, including in Lebanon, while further negotiations took place. In reality it was broken as soon as it was signed as Israel continued its military attacks in Lebanon, but limited levels of shipping did begin travelling through the Strait.
The growing economic problems for the US expressed themselves on 29 June when Trump declared a national emergency due to a shortage of phosphate fertiliser, vital for commercial agriculture and the mass production of food. Over 50% of US ammonium phosphate imports normally comes from Saudi Arabia; this supply route has been severely disrupted by the closure of the Strait. Trump has now been forced to lift tariffs off ammonium phosphate imports previously imposed on Morocco.
Meanwhile, US government oil reserves are shrinking. Although the signing of the MoU led to world oil prices dropping, on 26 June US’s reported emergency oil reserves fell for the 14th week in a row. Even when commercial oil stocks are added to the government’s emergency stock, total US crude supplies stand around the lowest level since 1984.
The targeting of the three tankers by Iran on 7 July was a blow to the US’s hopes of slowly opening up the Strait to international shipping. All the targeted tankers were struck near Oman, which has collaborated with the US in attempting to open up a new corridor for international shipping closer to its coastline. However Iran considers US attempts to create new routes through the Strait a breach of the MoU and has pledged to resist them. The tearing up of the MoU by the US and the renewed military strikes on Iran are the desperate response of a frustrated US imperialism which has no answer to Iran’s stubborn resistance other than further destruction and death. Beginning on 11 July the US launched daily military strikes on Iran, targeting civilian infrastructure including bridges, railways and power plants.
In response Iran has targeted US military targets in the region. Four US soldiers have been killed in these strikes, three at the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and one in Erbil, northern Iraq. On 23 July, after 12 days of continuous attacks, Iran warned Britain that airfields such as RAF Fairford, which the US uses as a base for long-distance bombing raids on Iran, are now legitimate targets. The new Labour Prime Minister Andy Burnham has given his approval for the US to continue to use British bases to launch attacks on Iran.
On 20 July Yemen’s Ansarallah government announced a maritime embargo on Saudi Arabia, closing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait into the Red Sea in response to Saudi attacks on their ports and airfields. Despite being battered by war for over a decade, Yemen continues to confront the forces of imperialism and Zionism in West Asia, in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. The Red Sea has been a key route for Saudi Arabia to export oil, fertiliser, and gas while the Strait of Hormuz has been blocked. If the Red Sea route remains closed then it will further damage the world’s economy. Trump is now attempting to win over the Saudis with a nuclear deal conditional on its signing of the Abraham Accords, normalising relations with Israel, in yet another move to isolate Iran and the Palestinian struggle.
Bob Shepherd
Hands off Iran!
Imperialism out of West Asia!
