The killing of Soleimani and the drive to war

Submitted by martin on 4 January, 2020 - 11:11 Author: Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist (Official Line), Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist, Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq, Iranian Revolutionary Marxist Tendency
Soleimani

Thanks to the Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist (Official Line), the Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist, and the Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq, and Morad Shirin of the Iranian Revolutionary Marxist Tendency for sending us these statements (below).

"Against the drive to war, against the Islamic Republic!" - meeting hosted by Workers' Liberty with speakers from Iranian and Iraqi left groups - Saturday 11 January 2pm Calthorpe Arms 252 Grays Inn Rd London WC1X 8JR.


Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist (Official Line)

Earlier this morning [3 January], Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Quds forces, along with the commander of the Hashd al-Sha’bi, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, were killed near the Baghdad airport. Trump himself, according to the Pentagon and the US Defence Department, ordered the attack.

Undoubtedly, the deaths of Soleimani, commanders of Hashd al-Sha’bi and any other criminal around the world, will only be met with joy from the freedom-seeking people of Iran, Iraq and the whole region.

Just as much, the bullish and self-righteous actions of Trump, Pentagon and the US Administration, and their intervention in any country as and when they desire, cannot but be met with anything but the abhorrence of the people of Iraq and the region.

The killing of Soleimani and his entourage in Iraq will draw the Middle East to another phase: a phase that will bring about the escalation of the state terrorism of both sides, and even more misery on the very people who have been suffering from the crimes, wars and interventions of the NATO and the US, as well as the Islamic Republic and other reactionary states in the region.

The Islamic Republic, the reactionary states and forces who have been under the pressure from mass protests in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, will definitely try to capitalise from this new situation.

This attack, yet again gives the Islamic Republic of Iran an excuse to use the pretext of “fighting against the Trump administration and the Pentagon”, and upbeat its war-propaganda to enforce an atmosphere of militarisation in the society and push back the mass protests against its rule.

Similarly, not only the Hashd al-Sha’bi but also the ruling religious-tribal states in Iraq and Lebanon use the pretext of “safeguarding security” in this situation of war or proxy war between Iran and the US, to enforce an atmosphere of militarisation and push back the mass protests that are taking place in these countries.

Moreover, this killing will increase the rhetoric of Trump and his team to paint the “military might” of the US not only against the people of the Middle East, but also against the working class and the freedom seeking people in the United State.

The US-Iran tension and the in-fighting among the reactionary states in the Middle East along with all their open terrorism in the recent decades, have brought nothing but misery, devastation and hundreds of thousands of deaths to this region. The workers and the suffering masses everywhere, and this region in particular, will again be the victims of such wars and these rulers.

The escalation of the tensions between the reactionary rulers in the US and Iran not only bears no benefits for the workers and the freedom-seeking people of these countries; but it makes their struggles for ridding themselves of these rulers harder. Undoubtedly a world without Trumps, Soleimanis, Khameneis, Erdogans, Netanyahus is a more secure and a more humane world. Kicking out these criminals’ machine of terror and killing, is certainly the task at hand of the civilised people and the socialist movement of the working class in all these countries.

Hekmatist Party (Official Line)

3 January 2020



Worker-communist Party of Iran Hekmatist

On Friday 3 January 2020 the convoy carrying Qasem Soleimani, commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds force; and Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis one of the Iraqi commanders of Kataib Hezbollah group was attacked by American forces near Baghdad airport and the two commanders were killed. The killing of Soleimani was directly ordered by Trump. Islamic Republic’s interventions in the region and attack on American embassy in Iraq was retaliated by eliminating Soleimani which led to Khamenei’s talk of “severe revenge”. The killing of Soleimani intensifies the tensions between Islamic Republic and US in the region and creates further more insecurity and terrorism in the region.

Soleimani is the symbol of Islamic terrorism and essence of the Islamic regime. He has been responsible for huge number of atrocities in the region and he has been the sole perpetrator of mass killings of people in Iraq, Iran and Syria. Such increase in regional tension between American government and the Islamic regime only intensifies an atmosphere of terror, fear and insecurity for the people who have risen to protest against the status quo. From the point of view of the people who are the constant victims of terrorist wars, the world is more tolerable without characters like Soleimani, al-Mohandis, Trump, and Khamenei.

Worker-communist Party of Iran - Hekmatist sees the terrorist tension between American government and Islamic Republic as an attempt against the revolutionary struggle of the workers and people of the region and the world. We call upon people of Iran, Iraq and the world to oppose the terrorist groups and governments. Overcoming terrorism in Iran and Iraq and achieving freedom and liberation is only possible by revolutionary overthrow of the ruling powers and establishment of a free and equal society where safe conditions are made possible for peaceful solidarity for the people of the region.

Down with Islamic Republic!
Freedom, Equality, Workers’ State!
Long Live Socialist Republic!


Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq

Every now and then, in a show of power, military clashes occur in Iraq between America on the one hand, and Iran through its militias in Iraq on the other hand. These clashes climaxed [on 3 January] when America assassinated Qassem Soleimani, Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, and others in an aerial bombardment at Baghdad International Airport.

The history of American imperialist practices and policies in Iraq is the history of war crimes, destruction and occupation, the history of starvation, the economic blockade and the use of deadly weapons against a people that is thousands of kilometers away, the history of massacres and unleashing of terrorist monsters like Al Qaeda and ISIS, to kill in Iraq and the region.

America’s grip over the plight of the masses in Iraq for many years and its military interventions have meant nothing other than imposing the harshest material and moral retreat on these masses, economic and social misery through its neo-liberal policies, demolishing the civil structure of society and creating conditions for the enslavement of women and dividing the society according to sects and ethno-sectarian “components” and establishing and strengthening the political, sectarian and nationalist quota system.

This latest American arrogance is another of the crimes that it has practiced inside Iraq for years and is a flagrant violation of the so-called independent sovereignty of Iraq within the contexts of the bourgeois world order.

The Islamic Republic of Iran, which represents the regime of executions, killings and slavery, the regime of counter-revolution that has been oppressing the masses for more than four decades, is the bulwark of political Islam in the Middle East region and one of its most powerful terrorist forces. The crimes of this regime and its forces, and the crimes of the “Quds Force” that was led by Qassem Soleimani against the masses in Iran, Iraq and the region are countless.

The attempts of the Iran-linked Iraqi militia forces to exploit the situation and attack US military positions, are extensions of those reactionary policies and the objectives of the Iranian regime. Similarly, these are the objectives of the Iraqi militia forces in order to stifle the uprising

American imperialism and the Iranian regime and their extensions inside Iraq are the staunchest enemies of the October Uprising and every liberation movement in this country. The ruling militia parties in Iraq, with the contribution of Iran, want to eliminate the uprising by militarising the situation directly, and America wants to take advantage of the conditions resulting from the militarisation of the situation to terminate the uprising and change the balance of power within the authority in its favour and in the interests of the forces associated with it.

Among the main goals of this uprising and its vision at the outset and remains to be, the end of the interference of these two states and other regional states in the political life of Iraq and topple the parties of the current regime and its forces that are linked by dozens of ties with this or that of these two countries and the rest of the regional states. The adoption of the intifadha to this political vision and this goal has become a necessity for the victory of the current intifadha.

People of Iraq,

Masses of the uprising:

The risks of Iraq slipping into the military clashes, and confrontations between these two reactionary poles and the deterioration of the security situation in Iraq has intensified with America’s assassination of one of the heads of the Iranian Islamic regime inside Iraqi territories.

The greatest safeguard against the collapse of the security situation in Iraq is through enhancing the will of the uprising masses, the continuation of the uprising, the expansion of its social base, and the strengthening of its forces and social streams throughout the country.

While the Organisation of Communist Alternative in Iraq (OCAI) strongly condemns all military and terrorist actions of both America and Iran inside Iraq, it is fighting hand in hand with the rising masses in Iraq to save the society from their interference and expel their military forces from Iraq.

Also, in the midst of these developments and events, it fights with great determination and strength to advance the uprising and organise its forces and the forces of the masses in Iraq in the revolutionary mass councils. The way to get rid of all the current conditions is to move towards the victory of the uprising and achieve its social and political goals of wellbeing, freedom, work and equality for all.

The Organisation of the Communist Alternative in Iraq

3 January 2020


Morad Shirin, Iranian Revolutionary Marxist Tendency

Qasem Soleimani took part in the brutal suppression of Iran’s Kurds in 1979. That was the beginning of his career as a Pasdar. His rise to the top of the Quds Force has meant that he has been responsible for the deaths of many Iranians, Lebanese, Iraqis, Syrians and so on. He is a hated figure wherever he helped set up Shia militias that have slaughtered protesters.

Although Trump has his many zig-zags, his overall aim is to gain more concessions from the Iranian regime. More concessions than the Obama government’s nuclear deal, both on the nuclear question and other problems that the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) didn’t cover, e.g., missiles or the Shia militias and proxies.

Gaining concessions on these and other outstanding problems – including implementing more neoliberal policies like privatisation and so on – will allow American companies to trade with the Iranian regime on a better footing and profit from a market they have mostly been shut out of for forty years.

Neither side wants a war. Both American imperialism and the Iranian regime want more concessions from each other and want to have more "bargaining chips" when they finally get to the negotiating table.

Trump’s first Tweet after the airstrike that killed Soleimani was: "Iran never won a war, but never lost a negotiation!" There will not be a full-scale war, invasion, overthrow or change of regime by the Americans.

A cold war that involves proxies has been going on for a long time. Even during Obama’s presidency there were the assassinations of the regime’s nuclear scientists, cyberattacks like Stuxnet and so on. Leaving aside miscalculations and so on, there will be some limited clashes and tit-for-tat action broadly in the same way as in the past few years. They will probably mostly happen in places like Iraq and Syria.

At no point, and in no way, should the left or the labour movement of any country defend the Iranian regime: the most reactionary form of capitalist rule in the twenty-first century. They should defend the workers, women, national (and religious) minorities, youth and students, writers, artists, intellectuals, LGBT+ people and others who are not only denied their most basic rights but are gunned down when they peacefully demand these rights.

During the November 2019 protests that were triggered by the hike in petrol prices, the regime killed about 1500 people (Reuters report) and thousands more are still in detention. When these protests took place, Khamenei is reported to have said to the security forces to “Do whatever it takes to end it.” No left-wing person should therefore feel any sympathy or solidarity for this regime. Or think that it plays any progressive role in Iran or the region.

In addition to such widespread brutality to smash protest, and the day-to-day repression of the past decades; this regime’s cuts, privatisation drive and other anti-working-class policies have led to severe hardship for wide sections of society.

The workers of Haft Tappeh, Vahed, HEPCO, the teachers, pensioners and so on are the ones who need solidarity – not the blood-soaked regime! The internationalist left should do whatever it can to help Iranian workers overthrow this regime and establish a revolutionary workers’ republic in Iran. Only such a republic can really oppose US imperialism and help the workers of other countries in the Middle East to also overthrow capitalism.


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