THE catastrophic effects on the global economy of the unprovoked and illegal war against Iran by the US and Israel has caused widespread fear amongst the capitalist nations in Europe and throughout the world.
US president Donald Trump, in alliance with the Zionist Israeli regime, launched their attack on the 28 February without bothering to notify any of their supposed allies, including members of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation).
The response of the leaders of these minor imperialist nations was to proclaim their ‘neutrality’ by declaring that the war ‘had nothing to do with them’.
Conscious that an imperialist war against Iran, along with the genocidal war by the Israeli Zionist regime in Gaza, would incur the active resistance of workers and youth across the UK and Europe, these governments played the role of onlookers.
This did not stop them quietly providing access to US military bases in their countries and providing logistical support to the murderous campaign of bombing and indiscriminate missile attacks.
It did not prevent Labour prime minister Keir Starmer from waging a legal war against protesters exercising their legitimate right to oppose the illegal war and genocide.
The façade of neutrality was bolstered by the belief, that the NATO nations shared with Trump and Netanyahu, that the Iranian Islamic Republic would be toppled, and the nation would be forced by the military might of US imperialism to submit to domination over its oil wealth.
In fact the reverse happened. Far from crushing Iran, the US has failed to achieve any of its strategic objectives, while Iran has emerged stronger and more determined not to give an inch to all the bluster and threats of ‘total annihilation’, issued almost daily by Trump.
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran to enemy shipping has had a dramatic effect on the global economy as oil, gas and other vital supplies are blocked, driving up inflation and the cost of living to the point of plunging the world into economic recession.
The catastrophic effect of Trump’s war on the economies of the UK and Europe, already in a ‘fragile’ state, means that the pretence of neutrality is fast being dumped.
It was reported yesterday that NATO is considering a ‘mission’ to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by July.
Previously the policy adopted by the UK and French governments was to send warships to ‘secure’ the Strait only after a permanent ceasefire had been agreed between Iran and the US.
The prospect for any ceasefire is extremely remote. Trump warned on Tuesday he may have to resume attacks on the Islamic Republic in a desperate attempt to win a war that the US has already lost.
The news that NATO was actively contemplating sending warships to confront Iran was first reported by the Bloomberg news agency which said that this plan had the support of a small number of NATO allies, but will need unanimous political support to proceed.
However, one diplomat said that levels of support could grow stronger the longer the Strait remained closed, and the pain to the economies of NATO countries became unbearable.
Meanwhile, Iran has responded to Trump’s threats and vowed to extend the war ‘beyond the region’ of the Middle East.
US imperialism has been humiliated by its defeat by the Iranian military, and a desperate Trump is preparing to once again launch a war that will accelerate the collapse of the entire world economy.
In this crisis, UK and European members of NATO will without doubt choose to join in a war started by Trump, and the US ruling class, in a failed attempt to re-establish American capitalist supremacy over the world through military strength.
With imperialism in its death agony, and on the point of plunging the world into a devastating war in the interest of a bankrupt capitalist ruling class, the time has come for the working class to take action.
Workers in the US, UK and Europe must immediately demand that their trade unions mobilise the full strength of the working class, by calling general strikes to bring down their capitalist governments and bring in workers governments and socialism.
This is the only way forward. Millions of workers will not stand idly by and watch the US and UK imperialists slaughter hundreds of thousands of workers in some new imperialist bloodbath. Now is the time to organise the World Socialist revolution, to dump capitalism into the dustbin of history!
