Al Mayadeen – April 19, 2025
US forces launch massive aggression on several areas in Yemen
Al Mayadeen's correspondent says at least people were martyred in the latest US aggression, as the UN Secretary-General expresses concern over the US airstrikes.
US forces launched airstrikes on various areas in Yemen on Saturday evening, Al Mayadeen's correspondent reported, adding that American warplanes carried out 20 airstrikes on the capital, Sanaa, targeting its western, eastern, and southern outskirts.
Two people were martyred and two others injured in a preliminary toll from the US aggression on the al-Nahda neighborhood in the al-Thawra district, north of Sanaa, our correspondent said.
He added that the aggression also targeted the 21st of September park in the same district with five airstrikes.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent also reported that one person was martyred and another injured in US airstrikes on the Bani Matar district, west of Sanaa. Another person was wounded in airstrikes on the Majel al-Dimmah cemetery in the al-Safiyah district in central Sanaa.
The US strikes also targeted the southern part of the al-Haffa area, southeast of Sanaa, with four airstrikes.
Our correspondent stated that the US aggression launched 13 airstrikes on the port and international airport of Hodeidah, in addition to a series of airstrikes on the coastal city, in western Yemen.
He further reported that US airstrikes also targeted the Darawan area in the Hamdan district, as well as the Bani Hushaish district.
Earlier, a UN spokesman said Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is "gravely concerned" about American airstrikes in Yemen after Yemeni authorities reported the attacks killed approximately 80 people and wounded 150 others on Saturday.
The UN Secretary-General is "gravely concerned about the air strikes conducted by the United States over the course of 17 and 18 April in and around Yemen's port of Ras Issa, which reportedly resulted in scores of civilian casualties, including five humanitarian workers injured," UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric announced.
US strikes on Ras Issa kill 80
The Public Health Office in Hodeidah Governorate reported that the death toll from recent American airstrikes on the Ras Issa port in western Yemen has risen to 80 martyrs and 150 wounded, with the figures remaining preliminary and expected to rise as search and rescue efforts continue.
The Yemeni Al-Masirah TV reported a statement from the health office confirming, "The death toll from the American attack on the Ras Issa facility has reached 80 martyrs and 150 injured, in a non-final tally."
The health office further stated that five emergency responders were killed in a follow-up strike on the location, with their statement specifying, "Five of our ambulance teams were martyred when the American aggression returned to bomb the Ras Issa port."
The government in Sanaa condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms, denouncing it as a “full-fledged war crime.” It warned that such actions "will not go unpunished."
“This crime once again proves that the American enemy deliberately targets civilian facilities and vital infrastructure,” the statement read. “The justifications provided by the US are false and misleading.”
Yemeni Armed Forces say downed 21st US MQ-9 drone over Sanaa
YAF spokesman Brigadier General Yahya Saree says the American aircraft had been successfully targeted using a domestically produced surface-to-air missile.
The Yemeni Armed Forces' air defenses shot down an American MQ-9 drone while it was carrying out hostile missions in the airspace of Sanaa governorate, the YAF's spokesperson confirmed on Saturday.
Brigadier General Yahya Saree stated that the American aircraft had been successfully targeted using a domestically produced surface-to-air missile.
This marks the second US drone Yemeni forces have shot down in 24 hours, the sixth in April alone, and the 21st American aircraft of this type destroyed since the launch of Yemen's "Promised Conquest and Holy Jihad" military campaign, according to Saree.
"The continued airstrikes and targeting of civilians, their property, and public and private installations will not break the will of the Yemeni people, but will only strengthen their resilience and steadfast commitment to supporting the Palestinian people," he emphasized.
Saree declared, "We will continue our supporting operations until the aggression on Gaza ceases and the siege is lifted."
The latest announcement comes amid the continued US aggression on Yemen targeting various areas in the country with airstrikes, and most recently killing at least 80 people in airstrikes on the Ras Isa port in western Yemen.
Yemeni Armed Forces remain undettered
The YAF revealed on April 18 that they had conducted multiple significant military operations, which included firing a Zulfiqar ballistic missile toward the area surrounding "Israel's" Ben Gurion Airport while simultaneously executing coordinated attacks against two American aircraft carriers deployed in the Arabian Sea.
Saree confirmed a dual operation targeting the USS Harry S. Truman and USS Carl Vinson along with their respective fleets. This marks the first time that the USS Carl Vinson has been targeted since its deployment to the region.
US attack on Ras Isa port 'deadliest' since start of the year
The recent US airstrikes on Yemen's Ras Isa port killed 80 people and wounded 150, the Public Health Office in Hodeidah Governorate announced on April 18, noting that these preliminary figures are expected to climb as emergency crews work to locate survivors and recover victims from the rubble.
The attack on Ras Isa follows a pattern of intensified US airstrikes across Yemen, targeting civilian areas and critical infrastructure in multiple provinces. While Washington claims the airstrikes are aimed at neutralizing missile launch sites, Yemeni officials and residents stress that the strikes are disproportionately affecting civilians.
Israeli Army reports first soldier killed in Gaza since ceasefire collapse
The Palestinian Resistance successfully targets an IOF vehicle, killing a soldier and wounding others, as efforts to reach a new ceasefire agreement between Hamas and "Israel" continue.
Israeli media reported several casualties among Israeli troops in Gaza, as "Israel" continues its brutal war on the Palestinian enclave.
The media said that an Israeli soldier was killed and four others were wounded in the Gaza Strip on Saturday, reporting that an Israeli Hummer vehicle was hit by an anti-tank missile in the al-Tuffah neighborhood of Gaza City, leaving two soldiers in critical and serious condition.
The reports added that as rescue forces arrived, they were targeted by an explosive device, resulting in a fatality and two injuries, noting that the occupation military conducted helicopter evacuations.
Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades said that its fighters successfully carried out a complex ambush against an invading Israeli force east of al-Tuffah neighborhood in eastern Gaza City, leaving its members killed and wounded.
The Brigades added that its fighters also targeted a Merkava 4 tank and a D9 military bulldozer with two Yassin 105 shells, setting both vehicles ablaze in the Jabal al-Sourani area, east of Al-Tuffah neighborhood.
Later, the Israeli military confirmed that a Sergeant Major was killed in northern Gaza and three others were wounded.
This comes as the occupation continues its aggression on the Gaza Strip since March 18, 2025, leading to the martyrdom of 1,783 and the injury of 4,683 others, while the death toll of the genocidal war since October 7, 2023, has risen to 51,157 martyrs and 116,724 injuries.
Meanwhile, efforts for a new ceasefire agreement between the Palestinian Resistance and "Israel" continue, with Hamas affirming that the only way for the releae of Israeli captives is through a comprehensive ceasefire agreement.
Hamas discuss ceasfire, captive exchange with Turkish intel chief
On Saturday, Hamas announced in a statement that its delegation headed by the leadership council chairman, Mohammed Darwish, met with Turkish intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin during the delegation's visit to Turkiye.
The movement added in its statement that "its delegation discussed with the Turkish side the developments of the genocidal war targeting the Gaza Strip," while reiterating Hamas' readiness to immediately reach a comprehensive prisoner exchange agreement in return for stopping the war and the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Strip at the outset.
The delegation addressed the occupation's crimes in the occupied West Bank, particularly in occupied al-Quds and Al-Aqsa Mosque, along with the systematic displacement operations carried out by the occupation military in refugee camps across the northern West Bank.
On his part, Kalin reaffirmed during the meeting his country's stance on the Palestinian cause and its solidarity with the Palestinian people, who have shown "tremendous determination and patience in defending their land despite the Israeli attacks targeting civilians and the starvation policies implemented by Israel to forcibly displace the population."
Kalin reiterated Ankara's rejection of "Israel's" expansionist and occupation policies, opposing any new annexation attempts, stressing that Turkiye "will continue supporting all international efforts to achieve a permanent ceasefire."
Captives' families: Only a deal can bring them home
The families of Israeli captives in Gaza stressed on Saturday that the only way to secure their return is through a deal ending the war.
The captives' families criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies, stressing that military pressure hasn't made the Palestinian Resistance more flexible, but rather more determined to uphold its terms, while accusing Netanyahu of refusing to strike a deal to free the captives for his own personal gain.
The families proclaimed that "military pressure hasn't freed our sons but instead put them at greater risk of being killed."
The families noted that Ron Dermer, the occupation's Strategic Affairs Minister, had promised them that "releasing their sons would take six months."
The captives' families appealed to US President Donald Trump, stating, "You're the only one who can end this war."
Fate of Edan Alexander unknown after captor martyred: Abu Obeida
Hamas' military wing announces that the fate of US-Israeli captive Edan Alexander remains unkown, after it retrieved the body of a fighter who was guarding him in captivity.
The fate of US-Israeli captive in Gaza, Edan Alexander, is unknown, announced the spokesperson for Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades on Saturday, after the Palestinian Resistance group lost contact with the unit holding him four days ago.
Abu Obeida announced the recovery of one of the martyred fighters, a member responsible for guarding the Israeli-American captive, while stating that the fate of Alexander and the other fighters tasked with guarding him remains unknown.
The military spokesperson stated that their efforts to protect the captives and safeguard their lives face significant challenges due to intense Israeli bombardment, which endangers the captives' lives.
He further emphasized that the occupation is lying in its claims that the captives are being treated inhumanely and fabricating false testimonies from released captives.
Abu Obeida noted that this comes as part of "Israel’s" broader campaign to spread misinformation aimed at demonizing the Palestinian Resistance and obscuring the reality that the Israeli military has not only killed a number of its captives but continues to exacerbate their suffering.
Earlier on April 15, Abu Obeida announced the loss of contact with the unit guarding Alexander following a direct bombardment targeting its location, while efforts to reach the unit's members remain ongoing at this moment.
The announcement followed the release of a video just days earlier, in which the US-Israeli soldier appeared alive.
The video, released as part of Hamas’ “Time is Running Out” media campaign, features Alexander sharply criticizing both the Israeli and US governments for what he describes as abandoning him. Visibly distraught, he declared he felt “disgusted by this world and [the] Israeli government,” directly labeling Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “dictator.”
Alexander pointed out that Hamas had arranged his release three weeks earlier, before Netanyahu blocked the deal. “Weﾒre convinced weﾒll only return home in coffins,” he said, voicing hopelessness as "Israel’s" war on intensifies.
Captives in areas under Israeli bombardment
On April 4, Abu Obeida announced that "half of the living enemy captives are located in areas the Israeli army has recently ordered to evacuate."
In a series of posts on his Telegram account, Abu Obeida explained that al-Qassam had decided not to move the captives from these areas but to keep them under "strict but extremely dangerous security procedures."
"If the enemy is concerned about the lives of these captives, it must immediately negotiate for their evacuation or release," he warned, adding, "We have given clear warning."
Abu Obeida placed full responsibility for the captives' lives on the Israeli government, stating, "The Netanyahu government bears complete responsibility for the lives of the captives. Had it truly cared about them, it would have honored the agreement signed in January — and most of them might have been home by now."
https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/fate-of-edan-alexander-unknown-after-captor-martyred--abu-ob
Iran, US agree to continue nuclear talks after Rome meeting
The Oman-mediated talks in Rome lasted about four hours, Iranian state television reported, describing the atmosphere as "constructive".
Iran and the United States agreed on Saturday to resume discussions on Tehran's nuclear program next week, according to Iranian state television, as they concluded their second round of talks in Rome over their decades-long impasse.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff negotiated indirectly through Oman's Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi who relayed messages between the two parties, Iranian officials said, a week after a first round of indirect talks in Muscat that both sides described as positive.
The Oman-mediated talks in Rome lasted about four hours, Iranian state television reported, describing the atmosphere as "constructive".
"The two sides agreed to resume indirect talks at a technical level over the next few days and subsequently continue at the level of two senior negotiators next Saturday," April 26, Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said on X.
Oman said the third round would be in Muscat, returning to the site of the first talks a week ago.
Araghchi announced that the two sides have agreed to assign expert teams to begin drafting a framework for a possible nuclear agreement.
President Donald Trump, who withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear accord between Iran and world powers during his first term in 2018, has warned that he may resort to military force unless a new deal is reached promptly to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Iran maintains that its nuclear program is peaceful but has expressed willingness to consider limited restrictions in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
US-Iran talks productive, held in constructive atmosphere: Araghchi
Speaking on state television after the talks, Araghchi described the discussions as productive and held in a constructive atmosphere.
"We were able to make some progress on a number of principles and goals, and ultimately reached a better understanding," he said.
Araghchi pointed out that the US side had "not raised any issues unrelated to the nuclear topic so far."
He added that both parties agreed to move into the next phase of negotiations, with expert-level meetings set to begin on Wednesday in Oman. The experts will have the opportunity to start designing a framework for an agreement," Araghchi noted.
The top Iranian diplomat further confirmed that senior negotiators will reconvene in Oman the following Saturday to "review the experts’ work and assess how closely it aligns with the principles of a potential agreement.”
Talks 'gaining momentum', Oman says
The talks, Oman's foreign ministry said, "aim to seal a fair, enduring and binding deal which will ensure Iran (is) completely free of nuclear weapons and sanctions, and maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy."
It said the talks are "gaining momentum and now even the unlikely is possible."
Araghchi and Witkoff had a brief interaction after the first round of talks, marking the first such contact since 2015, while Araghchi emphasized Iran’s commitment to diplomacy and urged all parties to work toward a logical nuclear agreement.
"Such an agreement should respect Iran's legitimate rights and lead to the lifting of unjust sanctions on the country while addressing any doubts about its nuclear work," Araghchi said, stating in Moscow Friday that he believes an agreement is possible if the US is realistic.
Italy called for continued dialogue and peaceful negotiation. However, Tehran cautioned against expecting a swift resolution, with the leader of the Islamic Republic, Sayyed Ali Khamenei maintaining a balanced stance, saying he is "neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic."
Trump told reporters Friday that he was "for stopping Iran, very simply, from having a nuclear weapon. They can't have a nuclear weapon. I want Iran to be great and prosperous and terrific."
Trump sticking to diplomacy for now
According to Reuters, the Israeli occupation has not ruled out a possible strike on Iran's nuclear facilities in the coming months, despite Trump telling Prime Minister Netanyahu that Washington is currently unwilling to support such action, according to Israeli and US sources.
Israeli officials have continued to press for the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program and have presented the US with various military options, including airstrikes and commando raids, some proposed for late spring or summer.
Even though Trump prefers diplomacy for now, Israeli officials are reportedly considering a smaller-scale strike that would require less US involvement, though such a move could strain relations and risk losing US support.
The report stresses that some of these plans had also been previously shown to the Biden administration and would need extensive US backing, especially in the event of Iranian retaliation.
In response to a request for comment, the US National Security Council directed Reuters to remarks made by Trump on Thursday, in which he stated he hasn't discouraged "Israel" from striking Iran but emphasized he is not "in a rush" to back military action against Tehran.
Trump said, “I think that Iran has a chance to have a great country and to live happily without death,” adding, “That's my first option. If there's a second option, I think it would be very bad for Iran, and I think Iran is wanting to talk.” Additionally, a senior Israeli official told Reuters that no decision has been made yet on an Iranian strike.
A senior Iranian security official said Tehran was aware of Israeli planning and that an attack would provoke "a harsh and unwavering response from Iran."
"We have intelligence from reliable sources that Israel is planning a major attack on Iran's nuclear sites. This stems from dissatisfaction with ongoing diplomatic efforts regarding Iran’s nuclear program, and also from Netanyahu’s need for conflict as a means of political survival," the official told Reuters.
World Socialist Web Site – April 18, 2025
Trump administration engaged in advanced planning for military strike on Iran
An article published by the New York Times Thursday makes clear that the Trump administration and the far-right Israeli regime have developed detailed plans for a military onslaught on Iran’s nuclear facilities. It also confirms that US military assets—including a fleet of B-2 bombers—were deployed to the region in recent weeks in accordance with the joint-attack plan.
According to the Times’ account, US and Israeli military and political leaders have discussed operational plans for actions from underground commando raids to a week-long bombing campaign with “bunker-busting” munition, underscoring that Washington is on the brink of plunging the entire Middle East into a region-wide war that would have catastrophic consequences for millions of people.
The article, published under the byline of several Times’ authors with close ties to the White House and America’s military-security apparatus, revealed that the Zionist regime and Washington have been working in close consultation for months on plans to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities in an attack slated for as early as May.
According to the Times, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “initially pushed for an option that would have combined airstrikes with commando raids. The plan would have been a far more ambitious version of an operation Israel carried out last September, when Israeli forces flew by helicopter into Syria to destroy an underground bunker used to build missiles for Hezbollah…
“After shelving the commando idea, Israeli and American officials began discussing a plan for an extensive bombing campaign that would have started in early May and lasted more than a week. An Israeli strike last year had already destroyed Iran’s Russian-made S-300 air defense systems. The bombing campaign would have had to begin with striking remaining air defense systems, allowing Israeli fighters to have a clearer path to hitting the nuclear sites.”
The report’s publication was clearly timed to impact ongoing high-level talks between American and Iranian officials. These talks began last weekend in Oman and are scheduled to continue tomorrow in Rome. Trump’s special envoy, the billionaire property speculator Steve Witkoff, is to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Abas Araghchi to discuss Iran’s nuclear programme and possible relief on the brutal sanctions Washington has imposed on Iran since Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the UN-backed Iran nuclear accord in 2018.
Trump has set a two-month deadline for reaching a new agreement with Iran, and has repeatedly declared that if the talks fail the US will attack Iran.
Thursday’s Times article, which was based entirely on intelligence leaks, was meant to underscore this threat: either Iran capitulates to Washington’s demands, or it will face a combined onslaught by the American and Israeli militaries.
Although the article was framed in terms of Trump reining in Israel’s advanced plans for a major military operation and “waving off” an attack on Iran to give diplomacy a chance, the information presented demonstrates that in so far as there are disagreements, they are of a very limited tactical character. One passage reported that Vice President Vance argued in one discussion that “Mr. Trump had a unique opportunity to make a deal. If the talks failed, Mr. Trump could then support an Israeli attack, Mr. Vance said, according to administration officials.”
The fact of the matter is that American imperialism, both under Democratic and Republican presidents, has been preparing for years for a regime-change war to topple the bourgeois-clerical regime in Tehran and bring to power a puppet government entirely under Washington’s thumb. Preparations to carry this out have intensified dramatically over the past 18 months, while the US under Biden and then Trump has provided unflinching support for Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians. Throughout, Washington has viewed Israel’s rampage on multiple fronts in the Occupied Territories, Lebanon, Syria and beyond as a key component of a broader push to redraw the map of the Middle East so as to secure US hegemony against its rivals in the energy-rich and strategically critical region, above all China and Russia.
Iran’s bourgeois-clerical regime has long been riven by infighting between a “moderate” or “reform” faction seeking a rapprochement with the US and European imperialist powers, and a “hardline” faction committed to closer alignment with China and Russia.
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian led a push for renewed talks with Washington in recent months, claiming that the election of Trump—a notorious anti-Iran war-hawk—could nevertheless provide an opening for sanctions relief. Ultimately, Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, gave his blessing to exploratory talks, but at the same time Tehran has continued to seek closer relations with both Russia and China, and has held separate talks with them over its nuclear program.
Araghchi visited Moscow on Wednesday, where he reportedly delivered a letter from Khamenei to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The fact that the traditional hardliners have tacitly given their approval to talks with Washington reflects both the regional and domestic crises confronting Iran’s bourgeois-clerical regime. Since Israel launched its genocide against the Palestinians in October 2023 with US backing, Iran’s key allies in the region—Hamas in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Houthis in Yemen, and Syria’s Assad—have either been severely weakened or overthrown. Iran’s ability to defend its own territory has also been seriously called into question following Israel’s assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, while he was a guest of honour in Tehran in July 2024, and the Zionist regime’s missile attacks on key military targets in Iran in late October.
At home, the regime sits atop a social powder keg, and social tensions have been intensified by the devastating impact of Western sanctions. In January, a report in a “reform”-aligned daily newspaper noted that 50 percent of the population lives below the poverty line of $450 per month, and that the Iranian currency, the riyal, fell by around 30 percent between September 2024 and January 2025, pushing up consumer prices still further.
These factors by no means preclude the possibility that the bilateral talks could fail. As the Times article makes clear, Trump and his advisers, far from ruling out military action, have merely determined to put it on hold for the time being. The fascist-minded President has himself repeatedly threatened to “obliterate” Iran. Given the mounting social and political crisis in the US, with rising popular opposition to Trump’s drive towards dictatorship, a sudden and desperate turn to war with Iran to divert social tensions outwards is a real possibility.
The imminent prospect of a devastating military assault—now spelled out in the Times article—could just as well strengthen the forces within the Iranian regime calling for a more hardline stance to the West as those pushing for a rapprochement. The threat of a military onslaught would remain if the regime capitulates to Trump’s sweeping demands for even more stringent restrictions on Iran’s civilian nuclear programme than were included in the previous 2015 nuclear accord. Moreover, the Trump administration has signalled that any deal would also have to include limits to Iran’s ballistic missile programme—arguably Tehran’s most important deterrent to a US attack.
The 2015 Iran nuclear accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was agreed between Iran, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (the US, Britain, China, France, and Russia), and Germany. The UNSC resolution implementing the agreement allows for a so-called “snapback” of UN sanctions on Iran if Tehran is deemed by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to be “noncompliant” with the deal or if no new agreement is reached by October 2025. Given the ongoing US/NATO war on Russia in Ukraine and Trump’s trade war with China, there appears little prospect of Beijing and Moscow consenting to the reintroduction of UN sanctions on Iran at the behest of the Western powers.
In recent years, China has emerged as Iran’s most important customer for its oil exports, in part because Beijing can organise trade in yuan to avoid US sanctions. Economic cooperation was formalised in a 25-year partnership agreement, which reportedly committed China to invest $400 billion in Iran in exchange for a steady supply of cheap oil. Tehran’s relationship with Moscow has also deepened, with Iran providing drones for Russia’s war in Ukraine and receiving Russian defence equipment in return. In January, a military partnership agreement between the two countries was announced. As a result, both Beijing and Moscow would inevitably view a direct US attack on Iran’s nuclear programme as an attack on their economic and geopolitical interests in the region—one, moreover, that given the bitter conflicts between Russia and China on the one side, and the US on the other in Ukraine and Eastern Europe, the Indo-Pacific, and on the economic front, could rapidly escalate into all-out war.
For the European imperialists, referred to as the “E3” in the context of talks on Iran’s nuclear programme, the threat of reimposing UN sanctions remains one of the few diplomatic tools they possess to influence the current talks, from which they have been all but excluded by Trump. In March, the E3 issued a joint statement with the US denouncing Iran, after the IAEA’s latest quarterly inspection report revealed an increase in the amount of uranium Iran has enriched to a purity level of 60 percent, just short of the 90 percent needed to build a nuclear weapon.
While the European imperialist powers are in fundamental agreement with Washington on the need to reduce Iran’s regional influence and curtail its nuclear programme, the rift that has opened up between the transatlantic allies over recent months due to Trump’s push for an accommodation with the Putin regime on the basis of a negotiated settlement to the war in Ukraine and his tariffs against the European powers underscores that they are not necessarily pursuing the same goal in reaching a new deal with Iran. The American and European imperialists could well find themselves in conflict over the talks or a unilateral military strike by Washington with Israeli support.
Even in the event of a new agreement between the US and Iran, the threat of a regional war will remain acute. Tehran’s capitulation to American imperialist demands would escalate the conflicts between Washington on one side, and China and Russia on the other, and lead to them being fought out ever more directly. Moreover, it would be based on an agreement by the bourgeois-clerical regime to dismantle what remains of the economic and social concessions that were made to the working class in the wake of the 1979 Revolution, opening up the Iranian economy to ruthless exploitation by American capital. This process would further exacerbate the already sharp social tensions in the country, threatening the regime’s downfall.
The only progressive way out of the looming war danger throughout the Middle East and the deepening social catastrophe for the Iranian masses produced by the competing imperialist and great-power interests is through the fight for socialism. Workers in Iran must unify their struggles with those of the working class throughout the Middle East, irrespective of their national and ethnic origin, and with the workers in the imperialist centres, to build a global anti-war movement. This movement must counterpose a socialist and internationalist programme in the fight for workers’ power to both the aggressive drive of American and European imperialism, and the bankrupt Islamism and nationalism of the bourgeois-clerical regime.
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2025/04/18/wzue-a18.html?pk_kwd=wsws-daily-newsletter
