Photo Above: Huge crowds rally in Iran’s capital, Tehran on 20 June 2025 to oppose Israeli attacks
Photo: Xinhua

Support Iran against the
Israeli Terrorists and the U.S.
and Australian Imperialist
Rulers Behind Them!

20 June 2025 – Israel is one week into its massive military attack on Iran. While continuing to murder and starve to death the Palestinian people in Gaza and unleash terror against the Palestinian people of the West Bank, the Israeli military is now raining death upon the people of Iran. With the support of her allies in Yemen, Iran is bravely fighting back. She and her Ansar Allah (commonly referred to in the West as Houthi) allies have launched 100% justified drone and missile strikes on Israel. But they are facing extremely difficult odds because Israeli forces are receiving huge support from the U.S. imperialists and their Australian and other allies. U.S. president, Donald Trump, has demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender” and threatened to unleash direct U.S. strikes against Iran. However, even now, the U.S. is greatly assisting the Israeli attack. U.S. officials have admitted that the U.S. military is shooting down Iranian retaliatory missile strikes. A U.S. official also stated that the U.S. provided “exquisite” intelligence to Israel to enable its attack on Iran. Moreover, in the days before Israel’s assault, the U.S. quietly delivered to the Israeli military hundreds of Hellfire laser-guided air-to-ground missiles that have been crucial to the attacks. Additionally, the U.S. helped modify the F-35 stealth fighters that it had earlier provided Israel so that they would be able to reach Iran without the need for mid-air refuelling on the way.

This is a war between, on the one hand, the U.S., Australian and other Western imperialists and their Israeli attack dog and, on the other, Iran, a country that while under capitalist rule is resisting the imperialist bullies that economically oppress her and aim for her total subjugation. In such a war, we must stand with the trodden-on country fighting to maintain its independence from imperialism – we must stand for the defence of Iran! The Israeli-Western imperialist attack on Iran – the country that alongside Yemen’s Ansar Allah government has been supporting the Palestinian resistance – is part of their broader war against the people of Gaza. Standing with the Palestinian people means standing with Iran against the Zionist butchers and all the imperialist ruling classes behind them.

Our resolute support for Iran against Israel and its imperialist masters does not mean that we approve of the Iranian government. Far from it! Iran is ruled by a capitalist exploiting class whose domination of society is enforced by an anti-secular regime that subjugates women and brutally persecutes leftists. However, the imperialist Western powers and their genocidal Israeli attack dog are much greater enemies of the working class masses of the world, the peoples of the Global South and the toiling classes of Iran. The final and most ruthless stage of capitalism, imperialism, involves the ruling classes of a handful of richer capitalist countries – principally the U.S., Germany, Japan, France, Britain, Australia, Italy, Canada and Spain – exploiting and robbing the masses of the poorer capitalist countries at an even more extreme rate than that with which they exploit workers in their own countries. Imperialist regimes enforce this plunder by unleashing against those who defy them a combination of military attacks and starvation economic sanctions. They also fund and train the military and political activist campaigns of various proxy movements in these countries. In the 21^st century, such Western imperialist operations within the Middle East, North Africa and West Asia alone have killed millions and millions of people. This includes through the U.S./British/Australian invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, NATO’s 2011 regime change attack and subsequent meddling in oil-rich Libya, the Western powers’ successful proxy war against the former, more independent, Syrian government, their proxy war against Yemen, their support for their Israeli attack dog’s genocidal attacks on the Palestinian people and their murderous sanctions on Iraq and then Iran. They have caused even more suffering by the poverty, division and corruption that they have created through their plundering and associated neo-colonial interference operations. Assisted by their two direct military interventions that sought to beat into shape a pliant regime in that country, Australia’s capitalist rulers have plundered tens of billions of dollars from neighbouring East Timor’s rich oil and gas resources resulting in that country having the fifth highest rate of child undernourishment in the world (and the highest in Asia next to war-ravaged Yemen). Put another way, Australia’s exploiting class have killed thousands upon thousands of East Timorese infants over the last two and a half decades by causing them to starve to death.

If the Israeli regime and their U.S. masters succeed in severely weakening Iran – the more so if they achieve their more ambitious goal of precipitating a pro-Western regime change there – then it would embolden the imperialists to intensify their oppression of other Global South countries and more aggressively attack others who defy them. On the other hand, every blow that Iran can land against Israel and their imperialist backers can only encourage the masses in the countries oppressed by imperialism to rise up against neo-colonial tyranny. Moreover, any setback or embarrassment that the imperialist Western rulers and their Israeli attack dog suffer in their campaign against Iran will open up greater opportunities for the working class, dispossessed First Peoples and embattled racial minorities within the Western countries to resist their own oppression. That is why it is in the very interests of the working class, Aboriginal people, Asian, Middle Eastern and African-based minorities and all the other oppressed of this country to stand 100% with Iran in this conflict.

Australian Imperialist Regime Sides with Attack on Iran

As the guiding hand behind Israel, the U.S. regime is unashamedly cheering on the Israeli assault. For their part, Australia’s imperialist rulers, like their counterparts ruling Western Europe, Japan and Canada, are also publicly backing Israel. Although they speak of “de-escalation”, they have made it clear that such “de-escalation” must be entirely on Israel’s and the Western powers’ terms. Thus acting prime minister, Richard Marles stressed that “we specifically call on Iran to exercise restraint in their actions so as not to risk any broader conflict.” In other words the Australian government want Iran to simply cop the Israeli aggression and not hit back! Moreover, both extreme war-monger Marles and foreign minister Penny Wong have sided with the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran by speaking of “Israel’s right to defend itself”. They have also sought to legitimise Israel’s aggression by labelling Iran’s efforts to build a ballistic missile (and allegedly in the future a nuclear) deterrent “a threat to international peace and security.” As if the possession of nuclear weapons by the maniacal Zionist regime that is conducting a genocide of the people of Gaza is not the actual, real “threat to international peace and security”! Or that the possession of a huge nuclear arsenal by the Australian imperialists’ U.S. senior partner, which is not only the only regime to have ever dropped nuclear bombs on humans before but has directly killed up to ten million people in countless military attacks ever since – is not an even more terrifying “threat to international peace and security”! It is only because the Albanese Labor government and its counterparts ruling Western Europe, Japan and Canada are worried that Israel’s brazen attack on Iran will provoke such resistance and anti-Western sentiment that it will “destabilise” Western imperialist domination of the world that they speak of the need to “prioritise dialogue and diplomacy”.

The Australian ruling class’ verbal support for Israel’s aggression is exceeded by their military, economic and ideological support. With the backing of all the parties currently in parliament – from the far-right parties, to the Liberals, to the ALP to the Greens – Australian governments have imposed a myriad of sanctions on Iran over the years. These prevented her from acquiring the weapons that she so badly needs to defend herself today. The Australia regime’s sanctions, which include a prohibition of the export to Iran of “certain kinds of graphite, raw metals, semi-finished metals, and software for integrating industrial processes”, have also hurt Iran’s economy, thus making her less able to resist U.S./Israeli aggression. These punitive measures and the hype around them have helped manufacture the ideological “justification” for today’s full-scale assault on Iran. Just last October, the Labor government added further sanctions on Iran.

Australia’s capitalist ruling class is aiding the U.S./Israeli assault in still more direct ways. The joint U.S./Australia Pine Gap spy base near Alice Springs downloads information from two U.S. spy satellites. This base has been transmitting the spy data to Israel to pinpoint its air, missile and artillery strikes on Gaza – thus ensuring that the strikes kill people rather than fall in empty space. Given that U.S. officials have boasted that they have given Israel “exquisite” intelligence to enable its attack on Iran, there is little doubt that the Australia-hosted Pine Gap base is also being used to aid the U.S./Israeli assault on Iran. The Australian regime has also participated heavily in attacks against the Yemeni Ansar Allah allies of the Palestinian and Iranian peoples. Several Australian troops are stationed in the Middle East assisting the U.S.-led operation against Yemen. Meanwhile, an Australian air base in the Northern Territory has been used by aircraft providing air-to-air refuelling of U.S. B2 stealth bombers on their way to bomb Yemen. Just as consequentially, the Australian regime has listed Hamas, Hezbollah and Ansar Allah as “terrorist” organisations. That means that people in this country are unable to make the donations that these groups require to buy the weapons that they so desperately need to wage their resistance against the Zionist terror machine. Additionally, Australian companies sell weapons and supplies to the Israeli military.

What we must do is build workers’ political strikes to oppose each of the methods by which the Australian ruling class is backing the U.S./Israeli war on Iran and Gaza. To lay the basis for such struggles, we need to win over to the cause the most politically advanced and respected worker activists; and then invigorate their commitment to this fight by involving them in rallies calling for support for both Iran and Palestine. To help build such demonstrations, we call on our readers to raise placards at the mass pro-Palestine rallies that emphasise the need to combine defence of Palestine with defence of Iran. Let us also raise slogans demanding: Lift all sanctions on Iran! Close Pine Gap! Australian military get out of the operation attacking the Yemeni allies of Iran and Gaza – troops out of the Middle East! No air-to-air refuelling from Australian bases of U.S. bombers attacking Yemen! Remove Ansar Allah, Hamas and Hezbollah from the “terror” listing! Stop Australian arms sales to Israel!

Resist the Imperialist-Puppet New Regime in Syria!

What has greatly assisted the U.S./Israeli assault on Iran is the takeover of Israel’s neighbour, Syria, last December by far-right-dominated, pro-imperialist “Rebels”. The former Ba’ath Party government led by Bashar al-Assad, although presiding over a state that served the interests of a section of the capitalist class and Syria’s privileged military and state bureaucracy, had tried to maintain independence from the imperialist Western powers. The Ba’athist government facilitated the flow of arms to Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, was allied with Iran and Russia and maintained a close friendship with socialistic China. Although the Assad government’s concrete support to the Palestinian struggle did not reach the levels of its strongly pro-Palestine rhetoric, it nevertheless hosted the bases of several Palestinian resistance groups and refused to maintain any relations with Israel. By contrast, the new imperialist-subservient Syrian regime has proclaimed its wish for friendly ties with Israel and has begun talks with Israel aimed at normalising relations. Most significantly, the new regime has driven out Palestinian resistance groups from the training bases that the former government had allowed. This includes driving out Islamic Jihad, Gaza’s second strongest resistance group, from their base in Syria and arresting two of their leaders. The new regime is also impeding the flow of weapons to Lebanon’s Hezbollah. Thus the new Syrian regime led by “former” Al-Qaeda in Syria leader, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (who now calls himself Ahmed al-Sharaa) has not only harmed Palestinian resistance forces but is helping Israel to protect its northern, Lebanese, flank. In all these ways, combined with the confidence that Netanyahu can now have that Israel’s Syrian neighbour will not take action against it in solidarity with Iran, last December’s takeover of Syria by the pro-Western “Rebels” greatly emboldened the Israeli government to attack Iran and intensify its genocidal onslaught against Gaza.

These “Rebels” were only able to triumph because of the massive support that they received from the U.S., British, French, German, Australian and other Western imperialists and their Turkish, Israeli, Qatari, Saudi, Jordanian and Emirati regional allies. These countries imposed such severe economic sanctions on Syria when it was ruled by the previous, more independent, government that it ended up squeezing the previous government and grinding down the Syrian people’s will to resist the imperialist proxy forces. The imperialist powers and their regional allies also poured huge amounts of arms, training, intelligence, supplies and money to their “Rebel” proxies. At crucial times, including through direct U.S. and Turkish participation in their “Rebels” final offensive, the meddling powers also backed their Syrian proxies with direct military action. The regime that the imperialists installed, which is dominated by Al Qaeda-derived anti-secular fanatics, has begun to implement its long-promised, extreme “free market” agenda. It is carrying out a Donald Trump-Elon Musk-style mass firing of public sector workers and has vowed to “open up” Syria to domination by Western capital and that of the imperialists’ Turkish, Saudi and Qatari regional allies. Most notably, the new regime is massacring Syria’s minorities, imposing mandatory dress codes on women and otherwise crushing women’s rights. However, opponents of the new Syrian regime’s slaughter of minorities and subservience to imperialism and Zionism have launched an armed resistance. All supporters of Palestine and all opponents of the U.S./Israeli assault on Iran must support this insurgency and any opposition to the new regime’s attacks on workers and women. Weakening of the pro-imperialist, new regime will allow Palestinian resistance forces an opportunity to establish underground bases in Syria and will enable arms to get through to Iran and Gaza’s Hezbollah allies. We must demand that the Australian regime ends its training and technology cooperation with the Turkish military , which both through direct occupation of northern Syria and arming of the Syrian regime keeps the pro-imperialist Syrian regime in power.

Plunder and World Domination

Holding the world’s third largest oil reserves, imperialist powers have long sought to ensure that a puppet regime rules Iran. When Iran’s then Mosaddegh government moved to nationalise Iran’s oil wealth that was being plundered by the British predecessor to BP, the British and U.S. regimes engineered a coup to overthrow this government in 1953. Although Iran’s current theocratic government oversees the capitalist exploitation of Iranian workers, it does not allow Iran’s resource wealth to be sufficiently plundered by the imperialists for the latter to tolerate it. Moreover, the imperialists’ agenda extends beyond grabbing Iran’s resource wealth. Through either bringing to power a subservient regime in Iran, or at minimum greatly weakening her, the U.S. seeks to ensure its stranglehold over the oil wealth of the entire Middle East. It also seeks the domination of a region that is strategically located at the intersection point of the world’s three most populous continents. After the overthrow of the former Syrian government, Iran – other than for brave but tiny and war-ravaged Yemen – is the last remaining Middle Eastern country that maintains political independence from the Western powers. This and Iran’s efforts to protect her independence by backing imperialism-resisting forces in the region is not acceptable to the U.S. ruling class and its Zionist henchmen.

Australia’s capitalist class does not have significant economic interests in the Middle East. However, it is siding with the Israeli-US forces against Iran not out of subservience to the U.S. but out of its own predatory interests elsewhere in the world. Australia’s capitalist bigwigs are the main neo-colonial plunderers of the South Pacific and also engage in imperialist exploitation in neighbouring southeast Asia and beyond. However, they need the U.S. as the great power guarantor of this imperialist looting and thus want U.S. power to be protected – including in the Middle East. Moreover, there is a particular aim of the Western imperialist campaign against Iran that the Australian rulers are particularly sympathetic to. To understand this we need to note that Iran is the last remaining country in the region – other than Yemen – that is significantly closer to socialistic China than it is to the imperialist Western powers. For the imperial powers this is a big problem given both Iran’s oil wealth and the fact that she is the second most populous country in the strategic Middle East after Egypt. In seeking to greatly weaken Iran, the U.S. and its allies are simultaneously striking a blow against Red China. Ideally, they would install a subservient regime in Iran that would allow them to establish military bases targeting China near her southwestern flank.

Although Australia’s capitalists gain fat profits from their exports to China’s still-booming economy, they want socialistic rule in China crushed as much as their fellow imperialist counterparts do – and for identical reasons too. The mutually beneficial cooperation between China’s giant, socialistic state-owned enterprises and countries in the Global South is undermining the ability of the imperialist ruling classes to continue to super-exploit those countries. Already, China’s economic cooperation with countries in the South Pacific and beyond is causing Australian corporations to lose profits in the region – and they not happy about it! Even more significantly, the capitalist powers are terrified that especially given the disgruntlement amongst their own people, if average incomes in China were to continue to catch up with those of the richest countries and reach those levels in say two or three decades time, then the masses in their own countries will be demanding socialism too. Therefore, even though China’s cautious, national-centred rulers do nothing to consciously encourage the struggle for socialism abroad, the stunning successes of socialistic China in improving the lives of her people is a ticking time bomb that threatens to blow up capitalist rule worldwide if it is not first defused or contained. And the imperialist rulers are only too aware of this threat! That is why they are doing everything possible – from overt military pressure on China in the South China Sea and elsewhere to propaganda campaigns to backing of anti-communist groups within China to anti-China economic measures to targeting China-friendly countries for regime change – to undermine socialistic rule in China.

Most of the U.S. ruling class backs the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran in large part because they know that victory over Iran would advance their campaign to crush socialistic China. However, some of the MAGA far-right factions are less enthusiastic about U.S. involvement in this war because they believe that the U.S. should not be distracted by wars unless they are directly aimed against Red China or Cuba or other workers states. Sharing some of the Far Right’s logic, sections of the Australian ruling class, while still backing the war on Iran, are quietly concerned that the U.S. is getting distracted from what they want their mafia godfather to be solely focussed on: squeezing socialistic China – or as they like to euphemistically put it “maintaining American engagement and leadership in the Pacific”. However, although there are differences in strategy, all the different ruling class factions of the various imperialist countries want the destruction of socialistic rule in China. But for the very same reasons that their own rulers are hostile to socialistic China, the working classes of Australia and the other imperialist countries must stand for the unconditional defence of the Chinese workers state. Despite the fragile, deformed and incomplete nature of China’s transition to socialism, the existence of a workers state in the world’s second most populous country is a great conquest for the worldwide struggle against capitalism and imperialism. We must mobilise in action here to demand: U.S./Australia military get out of the South China Sea! Resist Australia’s rapid, anti-China military build up! No to anti-China tariffs and export bans! No to restrictions on Chinese Apps and Chinese companies! Down with the lying propaganda attacks on China over Taiwan, Hong Kong, Tibet and treatment of Uyghurs!

Iranian Leftists Need to Be the Most Resolute Defenders of Iran against Imperialism and its Zionist Henchmen

Any regime change in Iran brought about by the imperialist-Israeli attack would not only be bad for the whole world, it would be a disaster for the Iranian masses. The resulting regime would be a subservient one that would facilitate the theft of a large part of Iran’s resource wealth by her new imperial masters. And as the last imperialist-facilitated regime change in the Middle East proves – the one in Syria – it would hardly spell good news for Iran’s women and minorities either! Indeed, in order to enforce the impoverishment of the country’s toiling classes by the imperialist looters, a new pro-Western regime would need to incite all manner of social reaction. In particular, it would need to divert the masses’ frustrations by whipping up extreme ethnic chauvinism against Iran’s various smaller communities.

On the other hand, a victory for Iran in this conflict would boost the morale of Iran’s toiling classes. They would say to themselves: now that we have defeated the imperialist tyrants let us make short work of our local oppressors too. A victory for Iran over the imperialists and their Israeli attack dog could thus open the door to the type of regime change that the Iranian masses actually need: the triumph of the working class on a militantly anti-imperialist agenda. That is why genuine leftists in Iran must work hard to support Iran’s defence. At the same time they must agitate for measures that would, while strengthening Iran’s war effort, advance the struggle towards a socialist system. For example, they should advocate for expropriating the capitalists in key sectors to strengthen the operation and coordination of the war economy. Iranian leftists should also use the political space that they will be able to carve out through being part of the anti-imperialist forces to advance the struggle towards an anti-imperialist, pro-working class, pro-women’s rights transformation of Iran. For example, they could hold rallies under the banner of “pro-working class secularists for the defence of Iran against imperialism and its Zionist henchmen”; and include in the demonstrations the active participation of women defying the theocratic government’s dress code. Given the needs of the war effort and the masses’ determination to defeat the imperialist-Israeli attack, the government would find it very hard to get away with cracking down on such mobilisations. Genuine Iranian leftists should also form anti-imperialist defence guards to mercilessly crush any groups or individuals who engage in agitation supporting the imperialist-Israeli attackers, or who otherwise obstruct Iran’s war effort. In this way, they will not only contribute to the defence of Iran and win the hearts of the anti-imperialist minded masses but will be able to start to establish organs of workers-leftist power.

In short, Iran’s leftists must prove themselves to be the most resolute and determined defenders of Iran against the U.S.-Israeli attack. However, they should do so in a way that simultaneously advances towards the goal of a working class takeover of Iran. The latter struggle cannot be postponed, because unless the masses know that they are fighting for a future that’s more than simply the maintenance of the current oppressive, capitalist order, sizable parts of the Iranian masses will not fight with the energy and courage needed to defeat their imperialist attackers. This was proven last December in Syria. There, although the toiling masses had bravely resisted the imperialist proxies for years and although they largely continued to fear what a pro-imperialist victory would bring, they did not end up fighting to the bitter end, because they did not feel that they were fighting for their own social liberation as well. In the face of the overwhelming power of the imperialist Western powers and their heavily armed Israeli attack dog, the Iranian masses can only triumph by fighting with the greatest of heroism and courage. That is why the Iranian masses need to know that while fighting for their national independence against imperialism and its proxies, they are also simultaneously advancing towards their own class liberation and the associated liberation of women. It is this perspective that made the Vietnamese toilers fight with the most incredible heroism to triumph in the Vietnam War against U.S. and Australian imperialism, despite facing odds far more unfavourable than what Iran faces today.

The “Disarmament” Demand in the Service of Imperialism

The cover for Israel’s attack was provided by the Western-dominated UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The day before Israel launched its strikes, the IAEA “found” that Iran was non-compliant with the “obligations” that the capitalist powers had imposed on her to declare her nuclear fuel stocks and uranium enrichment activities. These “obligations” were imposed on Iran with the stated aim of preventing her from acquiring nuclear weapons. Thus under the cover of “disarmament” and “opposition to the proliferation of nuclear weapons”, Israel and the imperialists are committing mass murder against the people of Iran. This shows how the slogan of “disarmament” can be twisted to serve any agenda. It should therefore never be used by leftists as a general non-specific demand. This is what Russian revolutionary leader, V.I. Lenin, emphatically insisted in his crucial work written during the height of World War I, The Disarmament Slogan. In sharp contrast to general appeals for “disarmament”, we say: Disarm the imperialists and arm those resisting them!

In truth, it is likely that Iran remains some distance away from acquiring nuclear weapons. Moreover, her rulers insist that they do not seek nuclear weapons. However, for us, whether they do or not is not the point. As a country in the Global South targeted by the imperialists, Iran has a right to develop nuclear weapons. Indeed, if she already had a strong nuclear deterrence capability, the U.S. and Israel would have been much less willing to attack her. Given that unfortunately Iran does not have nuclear weapons, she needs all the conventional weapons that she can get. In particular we appeal to China, which has verbally condemned the attack on Iran, to do its socialist duty and send Iran the most potent weaponry available – including China’s advanced J-20 stealth fighter aircraft, surface to air missiles and other anti-aircraft warfare systems and ballistic missiles. Given that the U.S.-Israeli attack on Iran is in good part ultimately aimed against China, this would be an act of self-defence for the Chinese workers state. China’s masses must press their leaders to abandon their futile dreams that the capitalist powers will “peacefully co-exist” with socialistic China. They must demand that their leaders instead do everything possible to resist the imperialists before they are emboldened enough to directly attack China.

The most powerful force for resisting the imperialist-Israeli onslaught against Iran are the exploited and oppressed masses of the world – including the working classes and oppressed minorities within the imperialist countries. The inspiring resistance in Los Angeles of the most militant elements opposing Trump’s deportations of undocumented workers and their efforts to form self-defence patrols obstructing the immigration cop raids gives a taste of the power of the working class and downtrodden peoples in the bellies of the imperialist beasts. Here in Australia, we must combine opposition to the exploiting class attacks on renters, workers’ real wages, the militant CFMEU workers union, and on Aboriginal people and other people of colour with opposition to this self-same ruling class support for Israel’s war on Gaza and Iran. Let’s leverage the disgruntlement of wide sections of the masses over unaffordable rents, steep power prices, lack of secure jobs, falling real wages, racist state killings of Aboriginal people in custody and racist scapegoating of non-white migrants and international students!

Consistently Oppose Imperialism: Side With Iran and the Palestinian Resistance! Oppose All Sanctions on Iran!

While the Australian regime assists Israel’s wars on Gaza and Iran and the Labor government and Liberal opposition make clear that they side with the U.S. and Israel, the Greens rightly “condemn these latest Israeli attacks on Iran”. However, the Greens have contributed to laying the political groundwork for this attack by repeatedly calling over the years for Australia and other Western imperialist regimes to take action against the Iranian state to bring “human rights”. But whether military, economic or political, any intervention by imperialist ruling classes in any country of the Global South is always driven by their predatory goals. Such actions can never serve the interests of the masses of those countries. Instead, whether military, economic or political, such actions always do harm. Yet, two and a half years ago, the Greens  went so far as to criticise the Australian government for not taking enough action against Iran. They demanded that the Australian imperialist regime impose new sanctions on Iran and declare Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps a “terrorist organisation”. A year later, at a parliamentary committee, Greens senator David Shoebridge attacked the Australian Federal Police (from the far right!) for not making enough “foreign interference” arrests of people who make spirited social media comments criticising opponents of Iran and China!! The truth is that, although the Greens do not agree with the current war on Iran, Netanyahu and Trump have merely taken the agenda that they share with the Greens, for Western action to “express to the Iranian regime that they, and countries like them, will face consequences from the international community”, to the military level. By having been the most extreme advocate of Australian sanctions on Iran, the Greens have helped weaken Iran and make her less able to withstand today’s U.S.-Israeli attack.

Like the Greens, Socialist Alliance, Solidarity and Socialist Alternative have rightly opposed the Israeli aggression against Iran and opposed the role of Pine Gap in facilitating the attacks. Yet, while making powerful criticisms of the U.S.-Israeli aggression, none of these groups made a clear call to actually, as we do, take the side of Iran in her resistance against the Israeli-U.S. attack. Moreover, the Solidarity and Socialist Alternative groups backed the takeover of Syria by pro-imperialist “Rebels” that has done so much to enable the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Their position was a capitulation to the stance of the ALP and especially the Greens, who were the most rabid supporters in the Australian parliament of the pro-imperialist and fanatically misogynist “Rebels”. Furthermore, bending again to the Greens and its years of fervent campaigning for Australian sanctions on Iran, Solidarity, Socialist Alliance and Socialist Alternative have thus far failed to call for a lifting of the Australian sanctions on Iran since the start of the war on her. Nor have their statements on the war demanded that the Australian military get out of the operation attacking the Yemeni allies of Iran and Gaza, or called for the lifting of the Australian regime’s “terror” listing of the Hamas, Hezbollah and Ansar Allah groups that stand with Iran and Gaza. Taking such stances are well within the scope of these left groups’ programs. That they have nevertheless chosen not to emphasise these crucially relevant demands when Iran is being attacked is an accommodation to the Greens and the ACTU leaders who both refuse to make these demands.

We call on sincere leftists to break free from the influence of the Greens and other representatives of the “progressive” wing of Australian imperialism so that we can together build actions opposing every single one of the ways that the Australian ruling class is participating in the U.S.-Israeli wars on Iran and Palestine. Let us build mobilisations demanding: Lift all Australian sanctions against Iran! Close Pine Gap! Australian military get out of the operation attacking the Yemeni allies of Iran and Gaza! Remove Ansar Allah, Hamas and Hezbollah from the “terror” listing!

Sisters and brothers: history is moving fast. Now, more than ever, is the time for opponents of imperialism, exploitation and racism to stand up and fight. The capitalists’ system is decaying and causing much suffering and disgruntlement within the imperialist countries. The response of the imperialist rulers is increased union-busting, repression and racist reaction at home and ever more violent efforts to plunder and bully the Global South. The brutal assault that the imperialist Western powers and their Israeli proxy have unleashed upon Iran today gives a small taste of what they will be prepared to unleash against socialistic China in order to preserve their tyranny over the world. We truly need to sweep away the imperialist ruling classes from power through socialist revolution. Let us advance towards this goal by working hard for the defeat of the imperialist Western powers and their Israeli attack dog and the victory of Iran and the Palestinian resistance.