https://themilitant.com/2019/09/21/us-hands-off-iran-end-all-washingtons-sanctions-now/
US hands off Iran! End all Washington???s sanctions now!
??By Roy Landersen
Vol. 83/No. 35
September 30, 2019
A series of drone and missile attacks, claimed by Iranian-backed Houthi
forces in Yemen, severely damaged Saudi Arabia???s biggest oil site Sept.
14, cutting world oil supplies and escalating prices. President Donald
Trump threatened the U.S. military was ???locked and loaded, depending on
verification,??? to retaliate.
Two days later, he warned that ???the United States is more prepared than
any country in history??? to wage war, referring to the U.S. Navy armada
and tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East. Yet the president
said he hoped to avoid any war moves.
Trump had indicated interest in meeting with Iranian President Hassan
Rouhani, possibly at the opening of this year???s U.N. General Assembly
session. He said Sept. 17, after the attack on Saudi oil facilities, he
no longer saw that happening. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei ruled out any talks the same day, claiming, ???Iranian officials,
at any level, will never talk to American officials.???
The U.S. administration announced yet another round of sanctions Sept.
18, which chiefly hurt Iranian working people. Washington sees the
increased military and political sway of the Iranian rulers across Iraq,
Lebanon, Syria and Yemen as the biggest obstacle to defending its
imperialist interests and the interests of its allies in the region.
???The Socialist Workers Party says U.S. hands off Iran!??? Malcolm Jarrett,
SWP candidate for Pittsburgh City Council, said in Cumberland, Kentucky,
Sept. 17. ???Workers have no interest in interfering with the sovereignty
of the people of Iran. We demand: End U.S. sanctions and get all U.S.
troops out of the Middle East!
???We don???t know whether Washington will use its formidable military
assets in the area to hit at Iran, but whenever the U.S. government
makes threats of military action, opponents of Washington???s wars have an
obligation to speak out and protest,??? Jarrett said.
Houthi Islamist forces said they had launched 10 drones from Yemen. The
Iranian government-backed Houthis seized control of Yemen???s capital,
San???a, in 2014. Since then, a U.S.-backed, Saudi-led coalition has been
mounting relentless air strikes in Yemen, killing thousands of
civilians. The conflict has reduced 10 million people, one-third of the
population, to utter dependence on international food aid.
Key Saudi oil facilities damaged
The quite sophisticated operation included at least 17 hits on the
massive Abqaiq oil processing plant near the Arab-Persian Gulf, run by
the Saudi state oil company Aramco and nearby Khurais oil field. U.S.
officials contend that satellite photos indicate the attacks came from
the north ??? from Iran or from pro-Iranian militias in Iraq ??? not from
Yemen in the south.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif denied his government was involved.
He said Washington had failed at its maximum-pressure sanctions campaign
and was now practicing ???maximum deceit.???
The Tehran-based Fars news agency, which reflects views of the Iranian
Revolutionary Guard, did say the attack on the oil refinery was ???smart
and timely.???
The damage to Saudi oil production at Abqaiq will mean the loss for
weeks of up to 5% of global supply. Capitalist?? pundits expressed
concern about the impact of higher fuel prices on a slowing world economy.
The attack came days after Trump fired National Security Adviser John
Bolton Sept. 10, citing disagreements with his more bellicose line
towards Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and other regimes and forces
Washington opposes.
The challenges facing the Trump administration are due to a
disintegrating decades-old imperialist world order as the dominance of
the U.S. rulers ??? unchallenged since they emerged the primary victor out
of the second imperialist world slaughter ??? is receding.
In his State of the Union address Feb. 5, the president had said, ???Great
nations do not fight endless wars.??? Trump has since said he would seek
to reduce the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the Middle East.
Trump had planned to hold discussions with Taliban and Afghan government
officials Sept. 8 in an effort to reduce U.S. engagement in Afghanistan,
but cancelled the talks after the Islamist group carried out a bomb
attack that killed a U.S. soldier and 11 others.
The bourgeois clerical regime seeks to increase its regional power and
influence by force of arms. It emerged from a counterrevolution that
pushed back against gains made by workers, farmers, women and oppressed
nationalities who carried out the 1979 Iranian Revolution that overthrew
the U.S.-backed shah.
This revolution was a deep, modern popular social revolution, not a
religious jihad. Iran???s clerical bourgeois officials today are held up
by the U.S. media of all political stripes as ???leaders of the
revolution.??? But they are in fact leaders of the counterrevolution.
There will be no end to Tehran???s reactionary wars, expansionism and
anti-working-class social policies without an end to the
counterrevolutionary regime.
???The sanctions and threats of Washington are an obstacle to Iranian
workers and farmers gaining the political space to organize,??? said
Jarrett. ???That???s why working people here need to campaign for U.S.
rulers hands off Iran.???
In This Issue
Front Page Articles ???Build solidarity with striking GM workers!
???GM workers, Blackjewel miners, fight for all of us
???Coal miners at Blackjewel ???stand up for what???s right???
???US hands off Iran! End all Washington???s sanctions now!
???SWP campaigns, wins support for workers organizing to fight
???Hurricane Dorian exposed depth of class divisions in the Bahamas
???Walmart is just ???a modern day sweatshop???
Feature Articles ??????There will be a clash between the oppressed and the
oppressors???
Also In This Issue ???Albany SWP runs on ???program that can defend working
people???
???NYC forces homeless workers to turn over ???savings???
???In race to speed up deliveries, retail bosses squeeze workers
???Cops fire Taser on customer in Walmart, drawing outrage
???Over 150,000 attend Manila book fair in Philippines
???Anti-union outfit targets UAW as auto workers strike
On the Picket Line ???Uniform workers in Puerto Rico, make gains, end strike
???Los Angeles truck drivers strike for right to join a union
???Health care workers rally against two-tier contract, for wage hike
25, 50 and 75 years ago
?? Copyright 2019 The Militant?? -?? 306 W. 37th Street, 13th floor -?? New
York, NY 10018?? -?? themilitant@xxxxxxx
Cookies
This site uses cookies to improve your experience. Learn more.Okay, thank
--
---
Clarence Darrow
??? I have always felt that doubt was the beginning of wisdom, and the fear of
God was the end of wisdom. ???
??? Clarence Darrow,