IRAN’S most powerful military commander, General Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard has been murdered by a US air strike in Iraq.
The 62 year old spearheaded Iranian military operations in the Middle East against ISIS. Murdered with him was Shia militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who also played a decisive role in the struggle to smash ISIS terrorism.
They were murdered as they left Baghdad airport, in the small hours of yesterday morning in a strike directly ordered by President Donald Trump.
The US, which has told its citizens in Iraq to run for it since it cannot protect them from what it has done, is now set to attempt a bloody purge of the Iraqi government to get rid of its pro-Iran wing, so as to be able to attack Iran without having to worry whether Iraq is secure.
The murderous Trump attack at the airport points to the depth of the economic and political crisis that is driving Trump on to risk everything in a desperate onslaught on Iran.
Hessamoddin Ashena, adviser to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, has said Washington ‘passed red lines’ with its assassination of General Qassem Soleimani and will ‘have to face its consequences’.
These consequences include the destruction of the Saudi oilfields, that were recently burning after drone attacks, a blockade of the Gulf oil route, and an oil strike that will paralyse the western economies, and bring them to a halt in a way that has not been seen since the British three-day week was brought in in 1974 after the Israelis lost the Yom Kippur war and had to hand back the Sinai.
Trump now intends to press forward to purge the Iraqi government of its pro-Iranian element to make sure that the US will not be fighting on two fronts. Iran and the Arab masses will have no alternative but to use the oil weapon and bring the western economies to their knees.
US President Trump, the adventurer, is in no position to be able to back down and survive. With an election coming up, backing down would be admitting defeat. He needs piles of Iranian corpses to win his election! As usual the response of the UK Labour leaders to the Trump attack is to get down on their knees before the USA.
Corbyn’s statement did not condemn Trump’s assault nor urge workers to fight it. Both Corbyn and the Tories call for a ‘de-escalation of the crisis’, right at the point when Trump intends to intensify it.
It is the working class in the UK and the US that must demand an end to the US aggression in Iraq and spell it out to Trump and Johnson that they must back down or face general strike actions to defend their jobs and living standards, when the Iranian and Arab peoples use the oil weapon to hit back at the US and UK bosses.
In the US, the giant trade unions operating under the AFL-CIO must follow the lead given by socialist Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders in condemning the attack. Sanders denounced the assassination as a ‘dangerous escalation’ that brings the United States ‘closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars’.
The trade unions in the UK must follow suit, condemning the US attack and taking political strike action against any move by the Johnson Tory government to follow the US into yet another bloodthirsty adventure in Iraq or in a war against Iran.
Any attempt by Johnson to take the UK to war must be met with immediate action to turn the war into civil war against Johnson and the ruling class, with all workers in their unions coming out together, in an all-out strike to bring down the Johnson government and go forward to a workers government.
This will immediately withdraw all UK troops from the Middle East, make a peace agreement with both Iran and Iraq, and recognise the state of Palestine with Jerusalem as its capital.
Trump’s adventure in the Middle East must be brought to an end by revolutionary action by the working class of the US and the UK. There is no other way forward except through workers’ power in both the US and UK!
