Lahib – (June 23, 2025)
The war waged by U.S. imperialism and the Zionist Israeli regime against the theocratic and reactionary state of Iran—long in preparation over the past two decades by Washington—was ultimately initiated on Friday, 13 June 2025 with Israel acting as the primary aggressor.
This war, imposed upon the Iranian people by the criminal Zionist regime with the direct support of U.S. imperialism, is a reactionary conflict aimed at subjugation, destruction, and the plundering of Iran’s wealth and that of the broader region.
The Broader Aims of U.S. Imperialism and Its Regional Proxy
U.S. imperialism, backed by its regional attack dog—the Zionist Israeli regime—seeks through the launching of such predatory and imposed wars to achieve multiple objectives. On one hand, it aims to distract the working masses of the United States, Israel, and their allied countries from the deepening political and economic crises at home. On the other hand, it endeavors to sow division among workers globally, to deceive them with nationalist lies, to detach them from revolutionary leadership, and ultimately to weaken the revolutionary movement.
The overarching aim is to undermine rival states, reducing them either to colonies or to fully subservient client regimes that obey imperial commands. This is the essential meaning and objective of the war initiated by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.
In the face of this situation, the foremost duty of Maoist forces around the world is to reveal the true nature of this war—to expose the treacherous faces of the Zionist regime, U.S. imperialism, and the Islamic Republic of Iran, all of whom attempt to cloak their actions in false patriotic rhetoric.
Maoists never forget: “Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.”—Mao Zedong.
Mao Zedong famously asserted that in human society, no war exists devoid of politics—in essence, war is inherently a political act. For several years, U.S. imperialism has experimented with various political strategies in its dealings with Iran’s reactionary theocratic regime, hoping to sever Tehran’s ties with two of Washington’s chief global rivals: Russian imperialism and Chinese social-imperialism.
When the United States failed to achieve its objectives through political means—namely, to bring Iran into submission and detach it from the spheres of Russia and China—it resorted to war, deploying its regional proxy, the Zionist Israeli regime, to initiate direct aggression to overcome those obstacles militarily.
Therefore, we must not overlook the class-based and political essence of this war. As Lenin stated: “It would be a complete theoretical error to forget that every war is only a continuation of politics by other means.” (Collected Works – Lenin – Volume 2, p. 1231 – Translated by Mohammad Pour-Hormozan)
The current U.S.-Israeli war on Iran is, in fact, the continuation of a political agenda that U.S. imperialism has been preparing since April 2006. This war is not accidental; it is a calculated, imposed, colonialist, and expansionist conflict aimed at annexing Iran into the imperialist orbit.
To more clearly expose the nature of this imposed war of occupation and aggression, we must look back and examine why U.S. imperialism has chosen to attack Iran through its regional proxy, and what strategic objectives it pursues.
In April 2006, The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Sunday Times all published reports on U.S. preparations for a military strike against Iran. At the time, these publications explicitly revealed that “in addition to conventional military strikes, the U.S. is contemplating the use of tactical nuclear weapons.” (AWTW “A World To Win” – May & June 2006)
The Nuclear Pretext: Deception and Double Standards in U.S. Policy Toward Iran
At the time, the United States claimed that its primary goal was to ensure that Iran would not escalate its nuclear program. Today, it continues to assert that Iran is on the verge of acquiring nuclear weapons—yet it has failed to provide any concrete evidence to support this allegation. Just as U.S. imperialism invaded Iraq under the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction—never proving the existence of such weapons—it now pursues its aggression toward Iran based on equally spurious and manipulative claims.
Meanwhile, there are countries actively seeking nuclear arms or already in possession of them—nations that regularly trample on the rights of their people and commit atrocities comparable to those of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Yet, U.S. imperialism not only turns a blind eye to their crimes but counts them among its close allies.
Washington’s real objective in Iran is not about securing guarantees over nuclear disarmament—even if Iran were to comply fully, such gestures would not satisfy U.S. demands. The actual aim is to install a regime in Tehran that would grant the United States unrestricted strategic access to pursue its regional interests, including the establishment of military bases and permanent deployment of American forces.
Some observers may find this policy contradictory and ask: Didn’t the U.S. initially engage in dialogue with the Islamic Republic, only for Iran to derail the negotiations? The answer lies in the imperialist playbook: before resorting to military confrontation, imperialist powers often pursue negotiations. However, if war is the true intention, they introduce demands that are deliberately unacceptable, thus manufacturing a justification for aggression and framing the conflict as forced upon them by an uncooperative adversary.
The people of the world—especially within the United States—clearly recall that during his campaign, Donald Trump frequently spoke of reaching an agreement with Iran and reducing its nuclear activities. Yet once in the White House, he reversed course and intensified rhetoric over Iran’s uranium enrichment program.
Trump went so far as to threaten Iran’s clerical regime with military action if it refused to scale down its enrichment operations. These threats pushed Iran into negotiations. After five rounds of talks, both sides initially declared progress. But when the United States demanded that Iran reduce its uranium enrichment to zero—a demand intended to be rejected, providing the U.S. and Israel with a pretext for war—Iran refused, as Washington had fully anticipated.
Imperialist Negotiation Tactics and the Geostrategic Importance of the Middle East
The core purpose behind the U.S. imperialism’s push for negotiations with Iran was not to genuinely reach a diplomatic agreement but to convince the international community that diplomacy with Iran was futile. The goal was to portray Iran as unwilling to scale down its nuclear program, thus framing it as a threat to Israel and the West. Through this narrative, the United States sought to legitimize military intervention as the only viable solution. In this regard, U.S. imperialism succeeded in shaping international opinion and laying the groundwork for future aggression.
From the outset of negotiations, it was evident that the U.S. was not sincerely seeking to limit Iran’s nuclear activities. Rather, its real objective was to pave the way for regime change—to install a government in Tehran that would obediently implement Washington’s strategic plans across the region.
Since 2006, U.S. imperialism has been actively promoting its treacherous “New Middle East” project, aimed at redrawing borders and fragmenting the countries of the Middle East and Central Asia. U.S. foreign policy documents dating back to that period openly discuss the vision of a “Greater Middle East” stretching from Morocco to Afghanistan, and from Pakistan to Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Yemen.
The broader goal of U.S. foreign policy is to restructure the region in such a way that it facilitates aggressive and hegemonic ambitions. Both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have publicly spoken of redrawing the map of the Middle East. Today, the region holds the largest oil reserves in the world and is home to several of the top oil-producing nations. Beyond oil, it also possesses vast reserves of natural gas. The majority of the world’s energy supply passes through the Persian Gulf on its way to international markets.
U.S. imperialism fully understands that controlling the oil and gas of the Middle East is critical to global dominance, particularly over Europe, Japan, China, and India.
But the importance of the Middle East extends beyond energy resources. Geographically, it is a strategic crossroads between three continents and serves as a critical gateway, particularly for military access. Among the countries of the region, Iran holds a position of exceptional importance. It has long attracted the interest of colonial and imperialist powers due to its geostrategic significance. Moreover, Iran’s long shared border with the former Soviet Union historically granted it a special role in the geopolitical calculations of the West and the United States.
The U.S. Imperialist Project of a “New Middle East” and the Real Objectives Behind the Iran War
The treacherous “New Middle East” plan of U.S. imperialism is structured around four core strategic objectives:
- Military Invasions, Aggression, and Direct Occupation of countries—implemented already in Afghanistan and Iraq, with Iran next on the list. Other nations may also be added to this agenda over time.
- The Overthrow of Existing Regimes and the installation of puppet, client governments in occupied countries, alongside the expansion of this model across the broader region.
- Redrawing national borders to suit imperialist interests, undermining the sovereignty of nations, and violating the fundamental right of peoples to self-determination.
- Creating new states in the region by co-opting nationalist movements among oppressed ethnic groups—those fighting against the chauvinism of dominant nationalities—and manipulating these internal conflicts to deepen division and expand control.
(Source: Peykar-e-Javanan – Issue No. 5 – First Series – April–May 2007. For further details, refer to this issue.)
The real motivation behind the aggressive U.S.-Israeli campaign against Iran lies precisely in the points outlined above. Just as U.S. imperialism considered Iraq a major obstacle to its advance in the Middle East and moved to remove it through invasion, Iran is now viewed as the next major obstacle. This strategy is reflected in the statements of Donald Trump.
Accordingly, the United States is actively pursuing the replacement of Iran’s current government with a fully compliant, puppet regime that will serve its strategic interests in the region. Although Trump initially spoke of diplomacy and reducing Iran’s nuclear activities, the conversation quickly shifted. The U.S. began demanding the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, followed by Iran’s unconditional surrender.
These developments indicate that the real concern of U.S. imperialism is not Iran’s nuclear program, but the nature of the Islamic regime itself, at least in its current form and posture.
Even Western experts have acknowledged that Iran’s nuclear program does not pose an immediate threat to the West under current conditions. This was highlighted during a Q&A session on the very night of the U.S. and Israeli airstrikes on Iran (Saturday night, 21 June 2025). When a journalist from Iran International pointed out that U.S. experts claim Iran’s nuclear program is not presently a danger to America, Trump bluntly replied: “They were wrong.”
The Social Contradictions in Iran and the Revolutionary Nature of the Anti-Imperialist Struggle
Iranian society, as a semi-colonial capitalist formation, is marked by three major internal contradictions.
(It must be noted that feudalism, as a socio-economic structure, has not yet been fully resolved in Iran under imperialist domination; however, the capitalist character of the system has become dominant over its feudal elements.)
- The national contradiction between the oppressed peoples and nationalities within Iran and the imperialist-Zionist powers;
- The contradiction between the broad masses of the Iranian people and the ruling comprador–feudal theocratic bourgeois regime;
- The internal contradictions among reactionary factions and classes within the Iranian ruling structure.
The current war is not merely the result of escalating tensions between imperialist powers and the theocratic regime of Iran. It is also an expression of the broader historical contradiction between imperialism and the Iranian people themselves.
The Zionist aggression—Israel’s invasion of Iranian territory and the violation of Iran’s national sovereignty and territorial integrity—represents a continuation of the antagonistic contradiction between the Iranian people and imperialist forces.
From this perspective, the war launched by U.S. imperialism and its rabid attack dog, criminal Israel, is not only a war against the ruling regime—it is fundamentally a war against the Iranian people.
Therefore, when viewed through the lens of this contradiction, the war assumes a reactionary character on the part of the imperialists and their Zionist proxy, and a progressive character on the part of the Iranian people, who are increasingly expressing their rejection of the war and their aspiration to resist imperialist domination.
From the Regime to the People: The True Adversary in the U.S.-Israeli War on Iran
At this juncture, Israel is no longer merely confronting Khamenei and the ruling clique of the Islamic Republic; rather, it stands opposed to the Iranian people themselves.
The imposition of this reactionary and aggressive war by the U.S. and Israel upon Iran is fundamentally a manifestation of the deep-seated contradiction between the Iranian people and the imperialist aggressors.
Therefore, the war waged by the imperialist aggressors—the United States and Israel—is reactionary and condemnable. Conversely, the Iranian people’s resistance and rejection of the war are progressive and just. We stand firmly alongside the Iranian people and unequivocally condemn the U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iranian soil.
Maoist philosophy teaches us that in any country under imperialist domination, the principal contradiction, the main enemy, and the fundamental revolutionary task manifest differently depending on the specific conditions.
If a country is indirectly dependent on imperialist and reactionary interventions and is not subject to direct occupation, then the principal contradiction lies between the exploited working masses and the reactionary, exploitative ruling classes who are dependent on global imperialism. In such contexts, these ruling classes are the principal enemies of the oppressed peoples, and advancing the class struggle against them becomes the primary revolutionary duty.
However, in conditions where a country—such as Afghanistan or Iraq—is under direct imperialist occupation, the national contradiction between the oppressed peoples and the imperialist invaders forms the principal contradiction. The invaders and their collaborators become the main enemies, and the foremost revolutionary task is to advance the struggle against them.
Should U.S. imperialism’s aggression escalate to the level of occupying Iran, then emphasizing this fundamental revolutionary duty will gain even greater urgency and importance.
The Current Conflict: Imperialism and the Struggle of the Iranian People
On one side of the war stands U.S. imperialism and the Zionist Israeli regime—acting as America’s attack dog in the region—supported by Britain, France, and Germany. As previously stated, these countries seek to obscure the widespread crises engulfing them by deceiving the proletariat, assuring them that the war is fought to defend Israeli territory and to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Their argument asserts that if Iran were to obtain nuclear arms, it would not only annihilate Israel but also pose a serious threat to it. Yet, their actions have exposed this claim as false.
Over the past twenty months, these powers, with Israeli support, have perpetrated genocide in Gaza. They have sought to capture Gaza entirely and forcibly transfer its population to other countries—a demand that remains unresolved to this day. At the outset of the war, they demanded a reduction in Iran’s uranium enrichment program, but a few days into the conflict, Trump called for Iran’s unconditional surrender. This shift reveals that Washington’s true aim is not merely to curb Iran’s nuclear program but to annex Iranian territory.
The U.S.-Israeli war plan aims to utterly destroy Iran’s economic infrastructure and reduce the country, like Gaza, to a state of destitution and despair. Therefore, the imposed war by the U.S. and Israel on Iran is utterly unacceptable, and we strongly condemn it, demanding an immediate cessation of hostilities.
On the other side stands the Islamic Republic of Iran, a regime that, over more than four decades, has committed countless crimes against Iran’s working masses and the region as a whole. The clerical regime has brought nothing but suffering and misery to Iran’s laboring people. The Iranian working masses demand nothing less than the overthrow of this regime by the proletariat under the leadership of its vanguard party.
The Iranian working class has initiated numerous uprisings and movements to topple this brutal regime, all of which have been violently suppressed by the Islamic Republic. However, the war waged by Iran against the U.S. and Israel is not a war of conquest or annexation, but a defensive struggle to protect the sovereignty of the Islamic Republic and the territorial integrity of Iran.
Hence, the war forced upon Iran by the U.S. and Israel is an aggressive, occupying war that must be condemned and prosecuted in international courts as a war of aggression.
We reaffirm our commitment to the territorial integrity of Iran and the sovereignty of the Iranian people, and call for an immediate end to this destructive war between U.S.-Israeli imperialism and the Islamic Republic.
Many collaborators and imperialist agents—nurtured in the bosom of imperialism—rejoice at the U.S.-Israeli military attacks on Iran. They celebrate the prospect of the Islamic Republic’s overthrow by Washington and Tel Aviv, hoping to gain status and power thereby.
These traitors have forgotten the massacre of Gaza’s people by Israel and the imperialist support for the fascist Israeli government. They have forgotten that the fascist state of Israel, backed by the fascist Trump administration, continues to plan the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
Has the world forgotten Trump’s declarations regarding Gaza and its people? Did he not announce his intent to capture Gaza and expel its population? Though he appeared to backtrack in the face of Palestinian resistance and global outcry, he continues to pursue this brutal policy through Israel’s savage massacres in Gaza.
Currently, Israel continues the slaughter of Gaza’s people, compounded by widespread famine. Survivors are dying from hunger and thirst. History has rarely witnessed crimes of such brutality and cruelty.
These reactionary and so-called patriotic forces argue that if the theocratic regime in Iran falls, a “democratic” government will replace it. Yet they fully understand that U.S. imperialism’s foreign policy is utterly incompatible with curbing the wave of theocratic fundamentalism. The realities in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Syria attest to this.
If the theocratic regime in Iran is overthrown by the U.S. and Israel, any puppet regime installed in its place will undoubtedly be far worse than the current theocratic government.
On the Class Character and Political Roots of the U.S.-Israeli War Against Iran
Since Israel’s armed attack on Iran, all those who collude with U.S.-Israeli imperialism and prepare themselves for capitulation are regarded as the principal enemies of Iran’s working masses. These reactionary forces, who are ready to surrender to U.S. imperialism, have never truly reflected on the real cause of this war: who instigated it, which classes support it, and under what historical and economic conditions it arose. If they have considered these questions, it is only to deceive and mislead the working masses out of servitude to the imperialist and Zionist courts.
“As I see it, the fundamental issue usually forgotten or insufficiently examined in discussions about war — debates that I would even call pointless and without objectives — is precisely the forgetting of the essential fact that war has a class character, why the war is ignited, which classes instigate it, and what historical and economic conditions have created it.” — (Lenin, War and Revolution, Collected Works, Vol. 24)
When we say war is the continuation of politics, we must first analyze the policies preceding the war — the politics that led to or culminated in armed conflict. If these policies are imperialist and aimed at annexing foreign territories or turning other countries into colonies, then the resulting war is a predatory, reactionary, imperialist war. Conversely, if the policies are directed toward defending the territorial integrity of a country and protecting the interests of the working masses or asserting the right to self-determination, then the ensuing war is just and legitimate. The U.S.-Israeli war against Iran is reactionary.
Therefore, it is crucial to identify the class basis of the parties involved in the war and the political goals they pursue. One must analyze the economic and political conditions of the warring factions prior to the outbreak of conflict. It is essential to uncover which causes and factors enabled the policies that led to this war to prevail.
The Nature of Imperialism and the Military Preparations Against Iran
One of the fundamental characteristics of imperialism is its imperative to keep subordinate countries obedient and under control. Based on this, imperialist powers strive to maintain their monopoly over nuclear weapons while disarming other nations. The Israeli government, as an agent of U.S. imperialism, has done and continues to do everything within its power to uphold this objective.
Two months ago, the United States began transferring military equipment to West Asia and intensified its military cooperation with Israel. These military preparations for an attack and invasion of Iran had been planned months in advance. Currently, the U.S. has deployed aircraft to the Middle East and is bolstering its military presence in the region.
The Trump administration is seeking to escalate the war in the region. Its goal is to establish control over the Middle East. The aggressive attack by the U.S. against Iran has been carried out with this aim in mind. The U.S. was fully aware that any military aggression against Iran would not go unanswered, and that its military bases in the region would be targeted in retaliation. Thus, the U.S. deliberately chose to launch a military invasion of Iran.
The clerical regime in Iran responded forcefully to this aggression, warning of a suitable retaliation. Should the U.S. continue its aggressive war against Iran, Iran will be compelled to carry out retaliatory strikes against U.S. bases in Arab countries. In such a scenario, the conflict will certainly escalate to a much larger scale, with the working masses of Iran, Israel, and the region becoming the main victims of this devastating war.
Mao Tse-tung aptly stated:
“When we say ‘imperialism is savage and brutal,’ we mean that the nature of imperialism will never change. Imperialists will not put down their butcher’s cleaver until the very end and will never become kindly Buddhas.”_(Mao Tse-tung, Selected Works, Vol. 4, “Cast Away Illusions, Prepare for Struggle,” August 14, 1949)
It is precisely this nature of imperialism that today has set the peoples of the world, especially those of the Middle East, ablaze in the flames of war, forcing them to bear the burden of imperialist economic sanctions and humanitarian crimes.
Although Russian imperialism has a strategic pact with Iran and some 200 nuclear experts operating in the country, Russia has acted cautiously in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran and has refrained from openly and firmly siding with Iran. To date, Russia’s response has been limited to condemning the U.S.-Israeli aggression against Iranian territory.
Russia’s Cautious Stance and Revolutionary Duty in the U.S.-Israeli War Against Iran
In an interview, Vladimir Putin articulated Russia’s position regarding Iran as follows:
“We previously proposed cooperation to our Iranian friends regarding an air defense system, but at that time, they showed little interest, and the matter ended there. Regarding the strategic partnership you mentioned, there is no clause concerning defense cooperation, and finally, our Iranian friends have made no request of us in this regard.”
This cautious stance by Russian imperialism in the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran implies that if Iran requests assistance, Russia may respond affirmatively. Russia seeks to avoid fighting on two fronts and does not want the gains it achieved in the Ukraine war to be overshadowed by a conflict on the Iranian front. Thus, it confines its role to mediating on Iran’s behalf.
Turkey condemned Israel’s attacks on Iran and likened Netanyahu to Hitler — even worse. Pakistan also condemned the attacks, whereas North Korea reacted strongly.
On Monday, June 23, 2025 Iran’s Foreign Minister visited Russia and met with Putin, followed by a meeting with the leadership of the revisionist Chinese Communist Party. That very night, Iran launched attacks on U.S. bases in Qatar. Should the U.S. retaliate and attack Iran, the war’s scope will undoubtedly expand, and countries aligned with Iran will join, transforming the conflict into a full-scale imperialist war.
The revolutionary forces in the U.S., Israel, and other imperialist countries face the urgent task of demanding the military defeat of the U.S.-Israeli coalition — the most reactionary and savage regimes that have set the Middle East ablaze and massacred its peoples. They must insist on this principle and strive to transform this reactionary war into an internal civil war. For, as Lenin taught:
“Without civil war, no great revolution in history has taken place, and no true Marxist can imagine the transition from capitalism to socialism without it.” — Lenin (quoted in Nine Interpretations)
Such a demand for defeat would benefit the working masses and revolutionary forces in both the U.S. and Israel, forcing these imperialist powers to retreat. The immediate and primary slogan for revolutionaries in both countries must be the transformation of the reactionary war into a revolutionary internal war.
Only through this process can the proletariat mobilize the masses, free itself from bourgeois dependency, and advance decisively toward genuine liberation of the peoples and socialism, whether at a fast or slow pace.
From the Joint Declaration of Maoist Parties and Organizations
“Communists must exemplify unity and internationalist struggle against the new global imperialist massacres. They must strive to unite and coordinate efforts to promote revolutionary struggles of proletarian armies across all countries against the mobilization of forces and weapons serving reactionary wars. They must form a united front with all revolutionaries and democratic sectors against the malevolent regimes that hold power through military support and commitments of imperialist masters. The notorious opportunist rulers who, under the guise of the proletariat and the peoples, support imperialist factions—though all are sworn deadly enemies of the oppressed and exploited worldwide—must be thoroughly repudiated and condemned as traitors.
Unwavering support must be given to revolutionary struggles led by true Marxist-Leninist-Maoist communists, particularly the People’s War in India, which today, along with other people’s wars, spearheads the global proletarian revolution and fights against imperialism and its reactionary national watchdog dogs.”
To advance this crucial task, there is an urgent need for a unified command center — at minimum, the revival of the internationalist revolutionary movement. We hope the interrupted series of discussions on this matter will resume urgently, and that the struggle for convening an International United Conference of Maoist Parties and Organizations worldwide will intensify, aiming to draft and approve a new international declaration and organizational statute to replace the previous ones of the international revolutionary movement. Likewise, establishing a new primary Maoist international center to succeed the former “JA” committee is essential. We fully recognize that the struggle for reviving the internationalist revolutionary movement has become an immediate and pressing international revolutionary necessity.
Either revolution stops the war, or war will ignite the revolution!
