(Further updated) Statements: Stop Israel now! No war on Iran!

A collection of statements opposing Israel’s military strikes on Iran released by the following socialist organisations: Socialist Alliance (Autralia), Partido Lakas ng Masa (The Philippines), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation, Haqooq-e-Khalq Party (Pakistan), Awami Workers Party (Pakistan), Peoples’ Equality and Democracy Party (Turkey), Fourth International, International Marxist-Humanist Organization and Revolutionary Communist International Tendency.

Socialist Alliance (Australia): No war on Iran. Break the US alliance!

The state of Israel has launched an unprovoked and entirely illegal attack on Iran. While it has attacked Iran before, the current assault is the most extensive and threatens regional conflict at great cost to human life. At least 90% of those killed in Iran are civilians.

Furthermore, this act of war has been carried out with the support of the United States.

There is every reason to fear that intelligence gathered at Pine Gap has been passed on to Israel, which it has used as part of its murderous rampage.

Australian foreign minister Penny Wong’s response has been worse than useless.

While calling for “de-escalation”, Wong avoided commenting on the illegality of Israel’s actions, except to say that Israel, the aggressor, has “a right to defend itself”.

This is absurd, and worse, a nod of approval for Israel to continue.

Wong’s disingenuous words simply reinforce the impunity given to Israel to break international law and commit war crimes. It builds on the Labor government’s tacit support for Israel’s genocide against Palestinian people and its recent invasions of Lebanon and Syria.

Concerns about Iran’s nuclear program are no justification for the attack. Iran has no nuclear weapons, is a signatory to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and has allowed inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Israel, by contrast, is known to have nuclear warheads, is not a signatory to the treaty and does not allow independent inspections.

Israel remains a key strategic bulwark for projecting US power in the Middle East. Alexander Haig, United States secretary of state under Richard Nixon, once put it bluntly: “Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.”

That’s why support for Israel is non-negotiable for the US and its closest allies.

No violation of international law; no crime, no matter how vile, not even genocide — the most serious of them all — will stop them supporting Israel. For them, there is no red line. They will have to be forced by the weight of public opinion.

The US and its allies are happy for Israel to do the dirty work of achieving “regime change” in Iran. Their publicly stated concern about political repression in the country is completely fake.

The fact that the US and Britain overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in 1953, carried out an illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003 and now enable Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, among their many crimes in the region, is proof of this.

Socialist Alliance supports the Iranian people’s fight for democracy, including the Women, Life, Freedom movement. We believe the only force that has the right to change the Iranian government is the people themselves.

We add our voices to those demanding the Australian government condemn Israel’s warmongering in the strongest terms and impose immediate sanctions, including cancelling the bilateral military ties.

The movement for peace with justice in this country must also press for the US military alliance, in all its forms, to end. This includes cancelling the AUKUS agreement and closing US military bases.

Through its participation in the US military alliance, Australia is promoting death and destruction. Instead, we call for an independent foreign policy, based on peace and justice.

Achieving such a transformation in Australia will require building a peace movement not seen in this country for many decades.

We ask you to actively join us in this effort and attend the upcoming protests against the bombing of Iran and the genocide in Gaza.

June 18, 2025

Sam Wainwright is a national co-convenor of the Socialist Alliance.

Partido Lakas ng Masa (Party of the Labouring Masses, The Philippines): Israel-US, Hands off Iran!

We condemn in the strongest possible terms Israel’s attack on Iran and residential neighbourhoods in the capital, Tehran, where civilians were killed.

This is a further escalation by this genocidal state of its war offensive in the Middle East — genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria and Iran. 

Israel acts with such impunity because it has the support of the United States and other imperialist powers. 

Militarism and wars are an imperative of the imperialist system, historically and today, with imperialism once again on the war path. 

We therefore support the right of sovereign nations in the Global South to protect themselves against imperialist coups and other forms of aggression, including through military means, as a deterrence. 

While we also support all genuine peoples movements in the Global South struggling against capitalist and authoritarian regimes, ‘regime change’ should be the act of the masses themselves and in their interests, not a result of some imperialist plot. 

In the case of Iran, where imperialism has had a long-term objective of regime change, we support Iran’s right to defend itself.

Israel-US, Hands off Iran!

No to imperialist wars! 

Free Palestine!

June 13, 2005

Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation: On Israeli military aggression against Iran 

The Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation strongly condemns the recent military aggression by the Israeli state against Iran. On June 13, Israel launched large scale attack against Iran’s civil nuclear installations and other infrastructures. This reckless escalation is part of a deliberate strategy by the US-Israel axis to impose regional imperialist dominance, destabilise West Asia, and provoke widespread conflict. 

The far-right Netanyahu regime, facing increasing global isolation and domestic discontent amid the ongoing Genocidal war on Gaza, is now attempting to widen the conflict and externalise its crisis by targeting Iran and threatening Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, and beyond.  

Israel’s so-called “pre-emptive” strike follows the familiar script of US imperialism, echoing the 2003 invasion of Iraq under the false pretext of weapons of mass destruction.  

A key turning point was the Trump administration’s unilateral withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, which dismantled a widely supported diplomatic framework and reignited tensions. Since then, Iran has faced escalating economic sanctions, acts of sabotage, and targeted assassinations, culminating now in open military threats. 

It is increasingly clear that the goal of the US-Israel axis is to burn West Asia to crush sovereign nations, and impose control over the region’s geopolitical and energy landscape.  

Israel’s action not only threatens West Asia, but the entire world. Israel has become a rogue state, brazenly violating international law and conventions with the full backing of the United States.

India must break its silence and take all possible steps to stop Israel. Silence and inaction will amount to complicity and India must not be bracketed with the US-Israel axis in its escalating crimes against humanity.

Central Committee, CPI(ML) Liberation

June 13, 2025

Fourth International: Stop Israel now!

Israel's unprecedented attack on Iran is a direct result of the impunity it has enjoyed while carrying out a live-streamed genocide in Palestine over the past 20 months. Under the false pretext of "self-defense," Israel has escalated its long-standing policy of Palestinian erasure into full-scale genocide. Now, it extends that aggression by bombing Iran, claiming to defend itself from a hypothetical nuclear threat—despite not being a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and remaining unaccountable for its own nuclear arsenal.

This impunity is made possible by the United States and other governments that continue to arm Israel—supplying weapons, funding, and political cover as it carries out mass atrocities across the region. The U.S. has emphasized that Israel acted unilaterally in its strike on Iran and has denied any involvement while being the primary supplier of the weapons used in this attack.  Alongside other governments that arm and shield Israel, the U.S. is complicit in enabling Israel's expanding aggression across the region. They are all partners in atrocity.

This belligerence has not only claimed civilian lives, but it also threatens the long and courageous struggle of the Iranian people against a repressive regime, of which the latest high point was the movement "Woman, Life, Freedom". History shows clearly: there is no path to democracy under the shadow of war.

We stand firmly with the people of Iran—both in their ongoing resistance to dictatorship and in their right to live free from foreign military aggression. We denounce Israel's attack on Iran and demand international pressure to stop its reckless regional escalation now.

We urgently demand:

Hands off Iran!
An immediate end to regional escalation!
Solidarity with political prisoners and human rights defenders in Iran, and vigilance against further repression by the regime.

As we have done for months, we continue to demand:

Sanctions on Israel now!
An immediate end to all arms trade with Israel!
Global mobilization to stop the genocide in Palestine!

Executive Bureau, Fourth International

June 13, 2025

International Marxist-Humanist Organization: Oppose apartheid Israel’s attack on Iran!

Israel’s June 13 attack on Iran, beginning at 3:00 AM local time, was a reckless, barbarous act that threatens to set the entire region aflame. Some 200 Israeli planes, as well as missiles and drones, bombarded the country, destroying military bases and nuclear infrastructure, the avowed aim of the attacks. Israel also assassinated, apparently in their homes, several important military, political, and scientific leaders, among them the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the country’s most important military leader. Its strikes also killed the chief-of-staff of the Army and four nuclear scientists. Reports from Iranian civilians suggest that many of the attacks struck residential areas of Tehran and other cities. To the extent that regime officials were killed in their homes, this constitutes a major violation of the laws of war, apart from the utterly innocent civilians also killed in such actions.

Israel clearly wants to stop any possibility of another US-Iran nuclear deal and may have moved more quickly to attack than even Trump wished. But now that Iran has counterattacked, the US will jump to Israel’s defense. This only underlines the need to cut off all military funding and aid to Israel, as we have been demanding since the genocidal Gaza war of 2023

Israel’s stated aims are to incapacitate or decisively delay Iran’s nuclear weapons capabilities, to destroy its long-range missiles, and to decapitate its military and nuclear research infrastructures. It promises, with strong US support so far, to deal such a decisive blow to Iran as to remove it as a threat to US-Israeli hegemony in the region. This, like its aim of “eliminating” Hamas in Gaza, is in the long run Quixotic. In truth, Israel has incomparably less chance of destroying Iranian military capacities. It will, however, be able to inflict untold suffering on the Iranian people.

How could such a miscalculation be possible? First, Israel and the US seem to believe that with Iran’s allies in Syria and Lebanon having been destroyed or severely weakened, that it will be hard for Iran to stage a serious counterattack against Israel. Thus, now is the time to take advantage of Iran’s weakness. This is a grand illusion if it means that Iran can be eliminated as a factor in the region rather than temporarily weakened.

Second, Israel seems to believe that the Iranian people will support their attack, and perhaps even rise up to overthrow the regime. While the regime’s popular support is weaker than ever since the 2023 mass uprising of women and ethnic minorities, this is an even greater illusion. This is the error of believing one’s own propaganda. The illusory character of such aims is seen in the horror almost all Iranians are feeling at this clearly unwarranted aggression, as seen in this post on social media from inside the country just hours after the attacks began: “The people of Iran must not be sacrificed again. Not for the Islamic Republic. Not for Zionist militarism. And not for those who, from abroad, mistake bloodshed for liberation.”

Finally, Israel is playing both the antisemitism and the Islamophobia cards, claiming that the Iranian regime is some kind of inherent threat to Israel, just because its rhetoric ever since 1979 has referred to the “destruction” of Israel. Also, because at some time in the future it could conceivably attain a nuclear weapons capability, Israel claims that Iran would then move to attack even if that meant suicide vs. Israel’s actual nuclear weapons, not least because its religious fundamentalism extolls martyrdom. Here, Israel is under the illusion that, just as largely spurious charges of antisemitism have been used to justify the repression of the pro-Palestinian movement in the West, and in the US, outright attacks on major universities, it could play that card again to gain support for its military adventurism. Given the relative silence of US liberals, and the support of the Trump administration, this may be the case. But for how long, especially if the US is drawn in or Israel asks it to take a direct part?

At the same time, our opposition to this military aggression in no way constitutes any kind of political support for the Iranian regime. The genuine left has opposed the Islamic Republic from day one. Back in 1979, we supported the feminists, the independent wing of the workers councils, and the leftist tendencies that wanted to turn to the revolution against the shah into something socialist, secular, and democratic. This kind of support for the progressive opposition needs to continue, just as we supported uprisings like the ones in 2023, or earlier, 2009. It can also be pointed out that the regime is weaker and more dysfunctional internally that it seemed, given how easily its leaders were picked off by Israel on June 13.

But these kinds of considerations in no way lessen our opposition to this new wave of Israeli-US aggression.

June 14, 2025

Written by Kevin B Anderson and approved as a statement by the Steering Committee of the International Marxist-Humanist Organization.

Revolutionary Communist International Tendency: Israel launches another war of aggression! Defend Iran!

1.  A few hours ago, Israel has started another war – this time against Iran. According to the latest reports, the Israel’s Air Force attacked numerous targets in Teheran and all over the country including military bases and strategic nuclear facilities. It also assassinated military figures (e.g. IRGC Chief-of-Staff Hossein Salami, IRGC General Gholamali Rashid, Brigadier General Mohammed Bagheri) as well as leading nuclear scientists (e.g. Dr. Fereydoun Abbasi, Dr. Mohammad Mehdi Tehranchi and Dr. Abdolhamid Minouchehr). An Israeli military official said that the goal of the operation would be to destroy Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities and that it will take several days. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the campaign would continue "as long as it takes."

2. The Trump Administration says that the U.S. is not involved in Israel’s attack. "Tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region," Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in a statement. In fact, Washington had been involved in negotiations with Teheran for two months about Iran’s nuclear program. While there is no doubt that Trump has been informed about Netanyahu’s war plans, it is currently not clear to which degree Washington supports this attack. In any case, Israel has been America’s most important ally in the Middle East, and it could hardly survive without the massive military aid by U.S. imperialism.

3. This war is a desperate military adventure of the Zionist settler state. It is based on the convergence of Netanyahu personal interests and those of Israel’s ruling class. The Prime Minister heads a highly fragile coalition government which could collapse at any moment. In addition, he has been put on trial for corruption and hopes to keep himself out of jail by continuing his wars of aggressions against Gaza, Iran, Lebanon and Yemen as long as possible. However, the war against Iran serves not only Netanyahu’s personal interests but also those of the whole Zionist elite. Israel’s longstanding position as the hegemonial power in the Middle East – with a large army and about 90 nuclear warheads – rests on terrorizing the Arab people and preventing the rise of any potential challenger. Iran, an industrially advanced capitalist semi-colony and regional power is the only country in the region which could challenge Israel’s hegemony. For this reason, Tel Aviv has tried to rally the U.S. since the 1990s to attack Iran and to destroy its nuclear program. Finally, Israel is also waging this war now as it recognizes its increasingly difficult position given its global isolation and condemnation because of its horrendous genocide in Gaza. Time is not on the side of the Zionist state.

4. However, Washington is in a more contradictory position. On one hand, America’s ruling class and its two parties – the Republicans and the Democrats – have always been closely connected to the Zionist state and its lobby. As one could see in the past 20 months, Washington has unconditionally supported Israel’s genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza. It remains the only power in the UN which sides with the Zionist state. It also shares Israel’s goal to prevent Iran from rising as a regional power. Furthermore, there exists a strong wing in the Republican party (represented by Senator Lindsey Graham) which are hardened supporters of Israel and its goal to destroy Teheran’s nuclear program by any means necessary. On the other hand, the U.S. is a declining hegemonial power and it needs to shift its military and economic resources towards stopping China’s rise as a Great Power. For this reason, the Trump Administration tries to reduce its military engagement in Europe as well as in the Middle East. Washington’s (soft) pressure on Netanyahu to bring the war in Gaza to an end, Trump’s efforts to intensify relations with the Gulf states and its negotiations with Teheran reflect its interest to pacify the conflicts in the region and to find a certain modus vivendi with Iran. Israel’s aggression against Iran is a result of its determination to sabotage Trump’s project of reorientation. Let’s be clear: this is a decisive war in which Israel tries to establish its full hegemony in the Middle East and to remove Iran as a challenger.

5. The Revolutionary Communist International Tendency (RCIT) strongly denounces Israel’s war of aggression against Iran. It is the duty of workers and popular organisations to mobilise against this war with strikes, demonstrations and direct actions. We have always taken an internationalist and anti-imperialist position in such conflicts between Iran and Israel resp. the U.S. We side with the former and call for the defeat of the latter. Iran is an advanced capitalist semi-colony while the U.S. and Israel are imperialist powers – the latter, in addition, is also a reactionary and illegitimate settler state. Iran has every right to strike Israel as well as U.S. military bases in the region. We fully defend Iran’s right to develop its nuclear program and possess nuclear weapons. Such weapons would allow Iran to better deter the nuclear powers U.S. and Israel from attacking it.

6. At the same time, we lend no political support to the capitalist Mullah regime in Teheran which oppresses the workers and oppressed peoples in Iran, which did help the tyrant Assad for many years to slaughter the Syrian people, and which aids imperialist Russia with drones killing the Ukrainian people.

7. We even more side with Iran in this conflict as the current escalation takes place in the context of the genocidal war which the Zionist monster has waged against the Palestinian people in Gaza and which has already killed at least 55.000 people – many of them women and children. Every strike is welcome which weakens the Apartheid and Terror state, and which aids the heroic Palestinian resistance! The RCIT calls the international workers and popular organisations to double their support for the Palestinian people.

Defend Iran – Defeat Israel and U.S. imperialism!

Expel the U.S. forces from the Middle East!

Victory to the Palestinian resistance!

For a global boycott movement against the Terror and Apartheid state Israel!

For a single democratic and secular Palestinian state from the river to the sea with cultural and religious rights for the Jewish minority which should be a workers and poor peasant republic as part of a socialist federation of the Middle East!

June 13, 2025