Iran. Let’s desert the war!

The US and Israeli attack on Iran has triggered an escalation of war that is setting on fire the area between the Mediterranean and the Persian Gulf.
A global explosion appears ever closer.

The risk for those who oppose the Iranian theocratic regime from an internationalist, class-based, and anti-patriarchal perspective is that the regime, weakened after the January uprising, will strengthen in the face of attacks.

The United States and Israel care nothing about the aspirations for freedom that cost no fewer than twenty thousand deaths and ten thousand political prisoners to those who chose to challenge the Islamic Republic.

Trump is not aiming for regime change that would meet the demands of the insurgents, because he is satisfied with securing favorable agreements in the energy sector.

At stake for the United States is control of resources and the Strait of Hormuz, the isolation of Russia, and an end to hydrocarbon trade with China.

Israel is attempting to settle scores with Hezbollah by exploiting divisions among Lebanese Shiites.
It is a risky operation, especially if the Israeli government is not content with controlling the Strip up to the Litani River, attempting a more in-depth ground operation, which could be very demanding militarily and a harbinger of new protests and defeatist initiatives internally.
Netanyahu is walking a razor’s edge, with a calculated move to secure a stronger position in the elections. The Likud government and its far-right religious allies are banking on expansion in the West Bank and war to avoid a voter rejection, which would spell the end of the prime minister and the current governing alliance. However, the strategy of unity in the face of a historic enemy risks becoming worn out, especially if the conflict is not short: thousands are fleeing from the north of the country, hit by a hail of missiles.
Thirty percent of Israel’s population, the poorest, has no safe haven against the bombs.

The Trump administration’s trade wars have failed to deliver the desired results, eroding part of the consensus it had gained by promising a return to the golden age, with the United States once again the linchpin of the global economy.
Polls indicate a sharp loss of support that could prove disastrous in the midterm elections.

The Trump administration, after the coup in Venezuela, is once again playing the military card, because it is the only area in which it maintains undeniable superiority over its strongest competitors.
This gamble is not without risks, as demonstrated by the tragic outcomes of the wars unleashed by the United States in Iraq and Afghanistan. These are countries where US military power enabled a victory on the ground that turned into a defeat, because the ferocity of the military occupation and the absence of solid allies, which only massive non-repayable investments could have guaranteed, led to retreats that demonstrate the US’s inability to implement its colonial projects.

Iran is not Venezuela. This is demonstrated by attacks that are far more forceful and incisive than the pantomimes carried out during the 12-day war last June.

Not only that.
Fifteen days into this this new bloody phase of the conflict, the United States and Israel, despite having inflicted severe blows on the Iranian military, massacring over a thousand civilians, appear unable to control the situation. The attempt to use Iranian Kurdish militias has so far been rebuffed by the newly formed coalition of parties from Iran’s Kurdish-speaking region.

The systemic chaos Trump is likely targeting could undermine US alliances in the region, which are already less solid than in the past.
Just consider a country like Turkey, a historic ally that has long been acting independently, actively supporting Palestinian factions linked to Hamas in Palestine, allying with Al Jolani in Syria, and settling accounts with the Kurdish opposition. Today, Turkey is bidding to become the region’s linchpin, a neo-Ottoman force, in direct competition with Israel.

In Iran, the internationalist, class-based, and anarchist political and social opposition opposes the war. Trump and Netanyahu’s war is not being fought in their name. The death of the tyrant does not bring the end of the dictatorship, because only the struggle of those who, from below, attempt to break the clerical and patriarchal order can open real horizons of freedom, sparking a revolutionary process.

Israeli and US bombs slaughter the civilian population while an increasingly bloodthirsty and ferocious regime deprives political prisoners of food and uses them as human shields on military bases.

Iranian anarchists oppose the war and the regime.
Israeli deserters and conscientious objectors supported the uprising in Iran and oppose the war.
We support them.

In our country, squares were animated by some sections of exiles chanting Israel and the United States’ attack on Iran.
In other squares, promoted by the diverse Italian left, flags of the Islamic Republic and images of Khamenei were waved.
Disturbing signs.

It’s a dark moment.
Italy, for years a logistics hub for the war in Ukraine and Gaza, now plays a key role in supporting the war in Iran.
The Sigonella bases and the MUOS in Niscemi play a central role in war intelligence operations.
The missile frigate Martinengo has been deployed to Cyprus, and military aid has been sent to the Gulf countries.
The government denies wanting to go to war, but our country has already been at war for years.
Italian military missions have been active for decades in Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Cyprus, Palestine, Egypt, as well as in the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa.

We desert.
We do not enlist on the side of this or that state.
We stand with those who desert war in every corner of the earth.

We want a world without borders, armies, oppression, or exploitation.

Only an international humankind can lay the foundations for that world of free and equal people that can put an end to war.

The fight to close Italian, US, and NATO military bases is more crucial than ever.

Deserting war is not just a slogan, but a concrete practice, strengthened by the transnational alliance of the oppressed and the exploited.
Let’s sabotage war!

The Correspondence Commission of the Italian Anarchist Federation – FAI