Addressing the United Nations General Assembly in New York on 22 September US President Donald Trump came out with his now normal fascistic threats against Iran, posing the question of whether he would do a ‘deal’ with Iran or ‘annihilate the Islamic Republic’. His statement epitomises the strategic impasse that US imperialism finds itself in after its failed attempts to achieve its stated war aims when, along with Israel, they launched their attack on Iran. Does the US agree a deal with Iran which would be considered a strategic defeat or does it launch a massive military onslaught, in-cluding possibly nuclear weapons, which has no guarantee of achieving success?
Earlier that same month the new British Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband included in his statement on Israel the lie that ‘Iran continues to threaten Israel and Jews across the world’ before announcing that Labour was sanctioning what he labelled an Iranian proxy group ‘Lebanese Hezbollah’s financing arm, Al-Qard Al-Hassan’. Miliband declared, ‘Iran must never have a nuclear weapon. So we are also acting this week to report Iran to the UN Security Council for its nuclear violations, alongside our allies. And I can announce today that we are also reimposing major economic sanctions on Iran in line with the European Union and the United States’. The Burnham-led Labour government continues to bang the drums of war in pursuit of its own interests in the region, with the aim of destroying the influence of the Iranian state. In the face of such aggression, progressive forces have a responsibility to mobilise on the streets against imperialist war.
No end to war in sight
On 17 August, when the Memorandum of Understanding between the US and Iran was officially due to expire, Iran and Oman announced that they were close to signing their own agreement on safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump’s response was to threaten ‘to bomb the shit out of them [Oman]’ if they got in the way of the US’s aims. What followed was a series of announcements that led to both the implementation of increased economic sanctions and renewed military strikes against Iran. Trump announced what he called the ‘most crushing economic operation’ against Iran and threatened any country trading with Iran with ‘tremendous economic consequences’. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent labelled the US’s sanction strategy the ‘greatest coordinated economic isolation in the history of the world’ and called 24 August, the day it began, ‘Economic D-Day’. Iran and Oman then issued a joint statement on 25 August agreeing to continue to work together to clear mines from a ‘joint temporary navigational corridor’ in the Strait of Hormuz. They said they would hold joint negotiations over the next 30 to 60 days to ‘reach an understanding on a new permanent and sustainable route’. These talks were postponed indefinitely in mid-September after the US’s threats and renewed military attacks. Oman maintains open diplomatic ties with Iran and is one of the few Gulf countries to have explicitly condemned the war.
On 30 August the US bombed the strategic Larak Island in the Strait of Hormuz, attacked Iranian oil tankers and began bombing military and civilian targets. According to figures published by Al Jazeera at the end of August, at least 3,527 people have been killed in Iran since the US-Zionist attack on 28 February.
The Iranian military retaliated with drone attacks targeting US troops and helicopters at the Al Minhad Air Base in the UAE and with ballistic missiles against US military facilities at the King Hussein and Al-Azraq military bases in Jordan. The continuing ability of Iranian military forces to successfully target US military assets has clearly been a surprise to US imperialism.
US military on the backfoot
It has been verified that on the first day of the US-Zionist attack Iran destroyed the US navy’s logistics base in Bahrain. Now Iranian missiles and drones can reach every harbour in the Gulf deep enough to take an aircraft carrier. Supply ships for the US naval fleet are now forced to sail to Diego Garcia or Singapore to unload.
In combating the Iranian missiles and drones the US is running low on essential defensive missiles. In an official report, covering the period from 28 February until 30 June, the US Defense Department’s inspector general assessed that US military operations against Iran had cost approximately $33.4bn, including $22.3bn in expended munitions. According to government leaks and reliable sources:
• The US military has used up nearly 40% of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) ballistic missile interceptors leaving fewer than 280 in its arsenal.
• More than 1,500 Patriot air defence missiles have been fired leaving fewer than 830 left.
• Approximately 25% of the US’s MQ-9 Reaper drones have been shot down or lost.
• Stocks of Tomahawk missiles have fallen from 3,000 at the start of the war to around 2,000 now.
It will take at least two years for these military stocks to be replenished.
This crisis in military equipment is reflected in the political conflicts that are taking place in the US military hierarchy with Secretary of War Pete Hegseth firing the Army’s Chief of Staff General Randy George on 2 April. The Army Secretary, Dan Driscoll, then resigned on 1 September. According to the New York Times Hegseth has blocked the promotion of seven Army officers to Major General, overriding a board of the Army’s senior leaders, and has fired over 80 generals and admirals or blocked their promotions since taking office. This political turbulence reflects the military impasse US imperialism faces and the different approaches within the ruling class over the direction the conflict should take.
Here in Britain, it is clear to all what the imperialist Labour government’s manoeuvres will lead to: more war, more deaths, more destruction; more suffering for the working class abroad and at home. We say no war on Iran!
British imperialism – hands off Iran!
Bob Shepherd
