Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine) 18.02.2026
At the end of the second round of negotiations between the United States and Iran in Geneva, the gaps between the sides remained significant. Given the depth of the disputes, the possibility of a military confrontation could become inevitable. While Iran says that an agreement is possible, American forces continue to arrive in the region and the possibility of an attack is still on the agenda.
The Zionist Political-Security Cabinet is scheduled to convene on Thursday evening. Earlier, the head of the Home Front Command, Maj. Gen. Shai Klepper, will present a confidential security briefing to members of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which will focus on preparing for scenarios of launching missiles and UAVs at Israel.
Senior Zionist sources note that although the Iranians are supposed to respond to the Americans within two weeks, and the United States is expected to complete its military deployment in the Middle East within a week, Israel is preparing for the possibility that an American attack will take place in the coming days.
According to them, Israel is also preparing for a scenario in which Iran launches a surprise attack. If there are any signs of this, Israel will not wait – and will act militarily, in full coordination with the United States.
US Vice President J.D. Vance said in an interview with Fox News last night: “In a way, the talks with Iran were good. The Iranians are not yet ready to recognize some of Trump’s red lines. The president is seeking to find a solution – diplomatically or by other means.”
The IRGC partially closed the Strait of Hormuz yesterday as part of a large-scale military exercise in which Russian and Chinese forces participated. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei repeatedly threatened the United States, saying, “We hear that the United States is sending aircraft carriers to the region. They are indeed dangerous, but the weapons that can sink them are more dangerous.” He said the U.S. military could suffer a “severe slap” from which it would not recover.
A U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran could turn into a regional war. This will also allow for a new intifada. The Zionist propaganda is that Israel does not want to be perceived as dragging the United States into a confrontation with Iran – which could escalate into a regional war – and that the decision is in the hands of President Trump. But it is quite clear that Israel hopes that an attack on Iran will take place in the coming days. It can be assumed that Netanyahu hastily traveled to the United States to push for war.
In the war between American and Israeli imperialism against Iran, which is a semi-colonialist state, the interest of the world working class is in the revolutionary defeat of imperialism and revolutionary defense of Iran.
On the other hand, the line of the journal is the way of the Stalinist Party in Israel is bourgeois pacifism. They write:
“The prime minister of Israel traveled to Washington to push America into war in the service of the political interests of the far-right government. He is liable to succeed – in front of him in the White House will sit a childish and unstable man, motivated by considerations of ego, image and fame, and who sees the world through imperialist glasses. The danger is great, and it is possible that Bibi will succeed in selling Trump another Middle Eastern adventure.
In the face of the warmongering duo, it is essential to promote an alternative vision of peace between the peoples of the Middle East. The interest of the peoples of the region is peace, not an exchange of deadly blows every few months. Instead of undermining negotiations, an agreement should be advanced to demilitarize the entire Middle East, including Israel, from weapons of mass destruction and ballistic missiles. This, together with the end of the occupation and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel, will drop the ground under the feet of the fascists in Israel and the theocratic regime in Iran.”[i]
And who exactly will disarm the Middle East, including Israel? What nonsense at all. Only a workers’ revolution can disarm the Zionist weapons, but this is the last thing that the Communist Party, Hadash, which puts imperialism and an Iranian semi-colony on the same plane, supports. They preach coexistence between the Zionist monster and the oppressed Palestinian people.
The right-wing centrists of “Socialist Struggle” talk about various issues, some of which are relevant.[ii] However, they cannot address one issue, and that is the need to defend Iran revolutionarily, against American and Zionist imperialism. Yes, the Iranian regime is an enemy that must be overthrown by a revolution, but imperialism is the more terrible enemy for which revolutionary defeat must be aspired.
Endnotes:
[i] https://zoha.org.il/143417/
[ii] https://socialism.org.il/maavak/2026/01/%D7%9E%D7%97%D7%90%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%A0%D7%A7-%D7%91%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9F