The funeral of Soleimani, Iran, January 6th, 2020.

The Suffering of Iraqi and Iranian Workers and the Tasks of Anti-War Activists Are Far From Over

It’s been four days since the unsanctioned assassination of Qasem Soleimani (Major General of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and leader of Iranian-backed militias operating in Syria and Iraq) who was certainly a thorn in the side of the United State’s ongoing imperialist interest in the Middle East, but events in the region have not stopped with his murder, and have been developing quickly in the last few days.

The origins of the assassination have their roots in a riot at the US Embassy in Baghdad that the US State Department was quick to identify as caused by Tehran stirring the pot of growing unrest in Iraq, portraying Shia militias as a militant vanguard in these demonstrations. However, by and large these protests seemed to have grown organically from the Iraqi people’s refusal of further neoliberal policies and their growing hatred of US occupation which has been ongoing for decades. 

Nevertheless, the US State Department has utilized this to target individuals in Iraq that have connections to the Iranian state. Soleimani being the most prominent of these individuals. Soleimani had been on the Pentagon’s hit list for some time due to his militia’s actions against American-backed assets in Syria and Iraq. At around 0100 on the 3rd of January, Soleimani’s convoy was leaving Baghdad Airport when it was destroyed by a Drone strike on the direct orders of President Trump. Within the hour the news was broadcasted in the US as “A victory against Terrorism”. The Iranian govt has since responded by saying that they will seek revenge for their Commander’s death. 

Shortly following the funeral for Soleimani on January 6th, Iranian officials stated that they have 35 targets within their reach that they could strike at any moment as a retaliation. President Trump took to Twitter vowing that if Iran seeks any retribution for the death of Soleimani that they have a list of 52 targets  (one for each hostage during the Tehran Embassy siege 1979-1981) including cultural sites and civilian infrastructure. As of yet, Tehran has not made a retaliatory strike, they have reaffirmed that their enemy is not the people of the United States but the Government and the Military that have sought to bring their country to its knees through decades of sanctions, embargos, terror (Iranian Air-Flight 655 where on July 3rd 1988 the US Navy shot down a civilian passenger plane flying in Iranian Airspace killing 290 passengers among them 66 children) and now direct military action.

The Iraqi Parliament voted on January 5th to expel all US troops from the country, a move Trump has refused without repayment for an American airbase in Bagdad. Trump has also threatened sanctions against Iraq if it proceeds on this course. Anti-American sentiment in Iraq is peaking after several months of attacks on the Popular Mobilization Forces, a militia force of the Fatah Alliance, an integral part of the governing bloc in Parliament. Iraqi Prime Minister Abdil Abdul-Mahdi dubbed the attacks a violation of Iraqi sovereignty, and has filed an UN complaint in the wake of Soleimani’s assassination. 

The Pentagon and Trump have made it clear that they have no issue with murdering and antagonizing civilians from their actions of embargo against the people of Iran to the IR-655 incident to Trump declaring cultural and civilian targets as first strike targets and new reports of Iraninan-Americans being detained by Customs and Border Patrol for 12+ hours and being interrogated about their political views. 

The American Imperialist War Machine has made its goals clear: The total subjugation of the Iranian people and the exploitation of the regions resources for Imperialist gain! Workers must stand together and be heard! We demand: No war but Class war! Remember the words of Eugene Debbs when he stood against the first war of global Imperialism: “Let the Capitalists do their own fighting and furnish their own corpses and there will never be another war on the face of the earth!”

Categories: U.S. News