Rainer Shea
OpEds
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The U.S. empire fears confrontation with Iran, and this fear is frustrating its operations in all areas
That Iran has been able to gain so much deterrence power over the U.S. empire and the Zionist entity, to the point where it feels comfortable waiting many weeks to retaliate for this July’s Zionist provocations, shows the role which Iran has within the third world war. Iran is a buffer against imperial aggressions; a force that the hegemon fears confrontation with, because it’s shown itself capable of overwhelming Washington. And this fact exposes a weakness within the imperialists, one we can take advantage of.
The imperialists absolutely want a new big war; their economic system is experiencing an unprecedented crisis of overproduction, and instigating a giant conflict is crucial to alleviating this crisis. Yet they don’t wish for this war to be with Iran. This is somewhat counterintuitive, since Iran is geographically far smaller than Russia or China and the empire isn’t showing such wariness towards provoking these other countries. But for a few reasons, Iran has become the player that the hegemon doesn’t want a full conflict with.
It’s always been obvious that trying to overthrow Iran’s government the same way Washington overthrew Hussein wouldn’t work, since Iran’s mountainous geography makes a ground invasion completely impractical. And with the shift towards multipolarity, Iran has risen to economic prominence, giving it too much stability for Washington’s color revolution attempts to be effective. Additionally, Iran’s rise has put it in place to threaten the U.S. with economic doom should full war break out, making Washington at risk of experiencing the same crises it subjects others to through its sanctions. Over the last two decades, Iran has also indirectly gained much more military power, since its anti-Zionist resistance partner Hezbollah has become an immensely strong armed force.
Because of how many advantages Iran and the other Axis of Resistance members have gotten, when the Ukraine war started Washington was not looking to provoke Iran in the same way it had just provoked Russia. And it still isn’t looking to do this. It wasn’t until the Palestinian resistance carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7, and the Zionist project became threatened, that the imperialists felt a need to put more focus into southwest Asia. Which has put them at risk of getting the war they fear most.
Because this new mobilization has been reactive towards unexpected events, rather than part of any plan from beforehand, the empire managers are hoping for this headache to end. They wish that southwest Asia’s anti-imperialist forces would go back to being relatively inactive, like they were a year ago; that the Houthis would end the Red Sea blockade, and that Iran weren’t waiting to strike. But this is as unrealistic as hoping for Hamas to be eliminated. The empire’s enemies in the region are going to keep up their new level of activity, and it’s going to keep being terribly costly for the empire. Washington is going to keep having to divert its focus towards southwest Asia, frustrating its plans for war in East Asia and its efforts to spread global chaos.
The fear that Iran is making the “Israeli” settler state feel by waiting to respond, wherein Iran has been able to exacerbate the economic crisis within “Israel” and undermine public security confidence, is also being felt by the broader imperial structure. All Iran needs to do is present Washington with the prospect of having to handle a new strike against “Israel,” and it can render the empire paralyzed. Iran is making the hegemon far less confident in its war plans for Korea, Taiwan, Eastern Europe, and elsewhere, because the hegemon knows that if it makes a move in these places now then it will be overwhelmed when Iran acts. This is the gift that Iran is giving to the world: it’s providing us with more time to prepare for the next phase in the anti-imperialist struggle. The phase where Washington carries out its next big maneuver, and tries to throw much of the globe into chaos.
The imperialists remain capable of bringing much destruction and death, but the forces which oppose it can take measures to reduce how much harm it can do. Because Russia has the political will to fight imperialism and fascism, it’s easily been able to crush Kiev’s invasion; it’s both ruined any long-term possibility of Kiev occupying Russia, and made Kiev unable to use this as an effective diversion. Because Venezuela’s revolution has prepared for mass mobilizations, it was able to put down last month’s color revolution attempt. Bolivia has also thwarted another coup effort earlier this year, showing how limited the reach of the regime change apparatus has become. And even in the places where things appear on the surface to be hopeless, the people are showing an undying determination to get the empire out of their lands.
Within Korea’s U.S.-occupied southern half, the ones who oppose the empire are making themselves heard through networks like the World Anti-Imperialist Platform. The struggle for sovereignty and stability continues within Libya. Sudan’s anti-imperialist movement is resisting the USA, and the genocidal local proxy leaders the USA has been backing. The Palestinians have in essence already won, because the anti-colonial struggle has accelerated the Zionist entity’s collapse. Here in the empire’s heart, where our government is now putting the Uhuru Black communists on trial for exercising their freedom of speech, a movement to defend them has emerged. And the traction that the Uhuru case has been getting in alternative media represents an opportunity to bring more of the masses into the revolutionary struggle. We within the global resistance towards U.S. hegemony are indeed taking advantage of this moment.
I understand that in the place where I live, the best way to do this is by connecting with the people’s anti-imperialist impulses; impulses which absolutely exist, but haven’t yet been turned towards a cohesive mass effort. Promoting the message of peace with Iran is one of the best ways we can bring the people in, because though our government is scared to confront Iran, it’s still perpetuating the risk of such a conflict. It’s maintaining inhumane sanctions against Iran’s people, backing Saudi Arabia’s genocidal war on Yemen in order to counter Iran, and doing nothing to truly prevent the “Israeli” state from committing war crimes against Iran’s people. That these actions by Washington interrelate with the effort to support the genocide against Palestine makes this all the more reprehensible, giving us even more of a mandate to combat what the anti-Iran hawks are doing.
The U.S. empire is bringing itself closer towards a war that it knows would backfire massively, but that it feels pressured into making ever more likely. Our enemy is uncertain on the question of how to handle Iran, and fearful of the things the future might bring. We must exploit this vulnerability.
Rainer Shea is a social change and anti-imperialist activist.
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