Statement of the Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT), 18 January 2024, www.thecommunists.net
1. The Mullah regime in Iran has launched missiles strikes in Idlib (Syria), northern Iraq and Pakistan, resulting in a number of deaths and injuries. Teheran claims to have hit a “Mossad headquarter” in Erbil (Iraq) as well as various “terrorist organizations”. The regime says these strikes would be in retaliation for the barbarian terrorist attack in Kerman (Iran) a few days before which killed at least 89 people and for which Daesh (ISIS) has claimed responsibility.
2. This has provoked outrage both in Iraq and Pakistan as well as among the Anti-Assad rebels in Syria. The governments in Iraq and Pakistan recalled their ambassadors and Islamabad responded with counter-strikes in Iran. This development has resulted in a serious crisis of Iran’s relations with important neighbouring countries and carry the risk of further escalation or even a war (in the case of Pakistan which is a nuclear power).
3. We are not in a position to know the real identity of all targets which have been hit by Iranian missiles. It is true that the bourgeois government in the autonomous Kurdish province in Northern Iraq has a long history of collaboration with the Israeli state. However, we don’t know if the target was really Israeli-linked. But in other cases, it is clear that the targets of the Iranian missiles strikes where not linked with Israel, the US or Daesh. It is well-known that the US as well as Daesh control areas in Syria, but these are not in north-western Idlib but rather in eastern resp. central provinces of Syria. The targets in Pakistan seem to have been linked to Jaish al-Adl – a militant nationalist group fighting against the oppression of the Baloch minority in Iran. Likewise did the Pakistani strikes hit targets linked to Balochi nationalist guerrillas – the Balochistan Liberation Army and the Balochistan Liberation Front – as the Balochis are also oppressed in Pakistan.
4. In other words, Iran’s missiles strikes – contrary to their fraudulent rhetoric of the regime – have nothing to do Israel, the U.S. or Daseh. Teheran rather exploits the popular outrage at home in order to strike militant groups opposed to the Mullah regime and to demonstrate its military strength as a regional power.
5. The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) condemns the reactionary aggression of Iran. These acts contain not an inch of anti-imperialism or anti-Zionism but rather demonstrate the chauvinist desire of a regional power to expand its sphere of influence – although Iran is not an imperialist power but rather an advanced and industrialised capitalist semi-colony. We also denounce the heinous terror attacks of Daesh in Kerman.
6. We reiterate our support for the liberation struggle of the workers, women and national minorities in Iran who suffer from exploitation and oppression by the regime. Socialists in Iran fight for the revolutionary overthrow of the regime and its replacement by workers and poor peasants’ government based on popular councils and militias. Likewise, we continue our support for the rebels in Syria fighting against the tyranny of Assad, supported by Russian imperialism.
7. Iran’s missiles strikes reflect not only the reactionary nature of the Mullah regime but also its coward character. The regime repeats day after day the slogans “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!” However, instead of striking U.S. military bases in Iraq or Israeli-linked ships – as the Houthis are doing so courageously – the Mullahs target much weaker targets. This is particularly shameful in the current situation as Israel wages a genocidal war against the Palestinian people with the support of U.S. and European imperialism. Furthermore, the Western powers are now also attacking the Houthis in Yemen. Still, the chicken Mullahs don’t dare to attack the Zionist monster and the Great Satan!
8. Finally, the RCIT also reiterates its unconditional support for the anti-colonial struggle of the heroic Palestinian resistance as well as the Yemeni Houthis. Likewise, we fully side with other forces fighting the Israeli or the Western imperialists. Such an approach should be also applied in case the Iranian regime finds the courage to confront the Zionist enemy or its Western allies. In all these conflicts we advocate the military victory of the Palestinian and pro-Palestinian forces and the defeat of the Zionist and imperialist enemies.
International Bureau of the RCIT
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We refer readers to a special page on our website where all RCIT documents on the 2023 Gaza War are compiled, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/compilation-of-articles-on-the-gaza-uprising-2023/.
For our latest statement on the solidarity actions of the Houthis in the Red Sear see: UN Security Council Legitimizes US-Led Naval Force in Red Sea to Attack the Houthis, 10 January 2024, https://www.thecommunists.net/worldwide/africa-and-middle-east/un-security-council-legitimizes-us-led-naval-force-in-red-sea-to-attack-the-houthis/