As we go to press, the daily bombardment of Iran by the US and Israel since 28 February has killed some 2,000 Iranian civilians. This includes 168 schoolgirls murdered on the first day when a US missile obliterated a primary school. Also assassinated was the Iranian head of state and spiritual leader of Shia Islam, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The retaliatory closure of the Strait of Hormuz to western oil carriers by Iran has exposed divisions amongst the western imperialist powers. The US is demanding European imperialist states send naval forces to re-open the vital shipping corridor: all have refused. Britain, in attempting to assert its own interests, has proposed holding a security summit in London to draw up a ‘viable, collective plan’ to re-open the Strait.
Nervous about the challenge to British interests posed by the US attack, the Labour government refused to become involved on the first day, but within 24 hours had pledged to support so-called ‘defensive military action’. With the sole exception of Spain – which point-blank refused to allow the US to use its military bases there – all the major European imperialist powers have now reluctantly also permitted the US to use their bases for ‘defensive’ airstrikes on Iran. European imperialism is acutely aware of the need to defend its connections with the Gulf states and its access to oil. The US attack on Iran has destabilised the whole West Asia region and the world economy.
The Strait of Hormuz normally sees about 20 million barrels of oil, 20% of global liquefied natural gas and 30% of global fertiliser supplies pass through every day. The price of crude oil has jumped by over 40% since 28 February. The head of Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, warned of ‘catastrophic consequences’ for business if the war drags on. After joining the fight in support of Iran on 27 March, Yemen’s Ansarallah movement has warned it could also block the Bab al-Mandeb Strait connecting the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, sending further jitters through the world market.
US imperialism believed it could quickly defeat the Iranian military and force the collapse of the government. Its strategic miscalculation has led to the US demanding that Britain and other European states send naval forces to help open the Strait of Hormuz. The EU has made it clear it will not directly participate in the war, and will only deploy naval forces, in the words of German chancellor Friedrich Merz, ‘after the end of the most intense phase of the conflict’.
British imperialism has also said it will not participate in any direct attack on Iran or send naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz, with Labour Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper, stating: ‘Reopening the Strait of Hormuz is vital for market stability, and for the cost of living for British households… we are discussing this with international partners… These discussions are separate from the conflict itself…multiple nations need to be involved in planning the way forward…so that commercial shipping can return as soon as possible as the conflict subsides’.
Reasons for the attack
For US imperialism the Iranian Revolution of 1979 against the Shah, the relative independence of the Islamic Republic and its later alliances with Russia and China, and with revolutionary movements in Palestine, Lebanon, Venezuela and elsewhere represent a major threat to its interests. For Israel, meanwhile, the destruction of Iran along with the Lebanese movement Hezbollah would allow it to expand its regional ambitions into southern Lebanon.
Since 7 October 2023, the open genocide committed by Israel, the assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2024 and the installation of the pro-imperialist HTS regime in Syria in 2024, has politically weakened Iran. US imperialism used this opportunity in June 2025 to allow Israel to attack Iran, unprovoked, with the aim of destroying Iran’s military capabilities – the so-called ‘twelve day war’. Even with US involvement this failed.
The US and Israel then tried from December 2025 to weaponise street protests by Iranians against falling living standards in another failed attempt at ‘regime change’.
The current onslaught is the latest attempt to impose a pliant pro-imperialist government on Iran. The pretext for the attack, dubbed Operation Epic Fury by the US government, has shifted as the days have passed, but US President Trump has been clear he wants an Iranian leader who would do imperialism’s bidding.
Iran’s response
However the Iranian state has not crumbled, despite US and Israeli threats to kill whomever was appointed as leader if not to their liking. Iran’s Assembly of Experts elected Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ali Khamenei. In his first statement as Supreme Leader on 12 March, the new leader vowed to avenge the deaths ofIranians and maintain Iran’s fuel blockade in the Strait of Hormuz. Throughout, Tehran’s response has been strategic, targeting US military bases around the Gulf, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as US embassies in Riyadh and Baghdad. Only the tankers of countries not engaged in hostilities with Iran, such as those of India and China, have been permitted to sail through the Strait of Hormuz.
After Israel attacked Iran’s South Pars oilfield, Iranian forces hit Qatar’s main gas site, wiping out 17% of its export capacity. After an attack on Iran’s Natanz nuclear power plant, two Iranian ballistic missiles pierced through Israel’s defence systems, hitting the southern cities of Arad and Dimona, where Israel’s nuclear facilities are located.
Labour’s complicity
The Labour government has played up its refusal to join the initial attack on Iran, citing supposed concerns about ‘international law’. In reality it knew about the planned attack at least 17 days in advance and planned accordingly. The initial refusal to allow the US to use British airfields at RAF Fairford and on Diego Garcia in the Chagos Islands was swiftly followed by granting the US its request for supposedly ‘defensive purposes’ – supporting the US offensive in all but name.
From 1 March, RAF planes scrambled to intercept Iranian drones fired at US bases in the Gulf states and at Israel. Britain has increased the number of its fighter jets in Qatar and stepped up its military presence in Cyprus. The destroyer HMS Dragon has now set sail for the eastern Mediterranean.
This constitutes clear British involvement in the illegal and unprovoked US and Israeli attack. Under international law Iran has the right to self-defence. Its attacks on US military bases in the Gulf states and on Israel are fully justified, as are those on British military bases in the region.
As communists in Britain, we condemn the attack on Iran and British imperialism’s role in the illegal war. Our political task remains to build an anti-imperialist, anti-war movement that opposes the pro-imperialist Labour Party and its fellow travellers.
Hands Off Iran! British imperialism out of the Middle East!
