https://themilitant.com/2019/05/18/washington-sends-carrier-fleet-to-mideast-threatens-iran/
Washington sends carrier fleet to Mideast, threatens Iran
By Seth Galinsky
Vol. 83/No. 21
May 27, 2019
Millions of workers in the U.S. know from bitter experience what it
means when the capitalist rulers discuss dispatching more cannon fodder
to the Middle East.
News accounts report a meeting of White House national security
personnel May 9 discussed “updating” a plan to send tens of thousands
more troops to the Persian Gulf to counter any hostile moves by Tehran.
Washington is ratcheting up its economic sanctions on Iran even tighter,
in what the State Department calls an “unprecedented maximum pressure
campaign.”
“Washington’s new sanctions and threats against Iran only make things
worse for working people there and in the region. The U.S. rulers only
aim is defending their imperialist interests in the Middle East,” Joel
Britton, Socialist Workers Party candidate for mayor of San Francisco,
said May 13. “Working people in the U.S. and around the world should be
on their guard, and demand U.S. hands off Iran! End the sanctions!”
The U.S. rulers’ goal is to force Tehran to accept greater restrictions
on its nuclear program and to reign in Iranian “proxy” forces in Iraq,
Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and the Gaza Strip.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said May 11 the U.S. economic sanctions
are “unprecedented in the history of our Islamic Revolution,” and are
causing deep economic problems.
It’s working people who are forced to bear the burden. Prices for basic
necessities have risen as much as 60 percent over the last year, despite
government subsidies for food and electricity.
Washington has been increasing the pressure for a year, since President
Donald Trump withdrew from the 2015 U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement signed
by Barack Obama, saying it didn’t go far enough.
In November last year, Washington reimposed sanctions on oil imports
from Iran but granted eight governments temporary waivers. In April,
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the waivers would not be
renewed. They expired May 2.
On May 3 Washington set new limits on Iran’s nuclear activities,
imposing sanctions on Iranian export of heavy water and surplus enriched
uranium. Less than a week later it imposed sanctions on Iran’s metal
exports.
And on May 5 the White House announced the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier
Strike Group was heading to the Arab-Persian Gulf “to send a clear and
unmistakable message to the Iranian Regime.” Administration officials
claimed it was in response to unspecified threats by Iranian forces. The
deployment was part of the regular rotation of U.S. naval forces, but
Washington exploited it to threaten Tehran.
Washington continues to squeeze
“Any attack on U.S. interests will be met with unrelenting force,” Gen.
Frank McKenzie, commander of the U.S. Central Command, said May 8. He
added, “Make no mistake, we are not seeking a fight with the Iranian
regime.”
On May 7, Pompeo called off a planned trip to Germany and went to Iraq.
He spent four hours meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi,
Iraqi President Barham Salih and other officials, as part of the U.S.
attempt to increase the pressure on Tehran.
He also went to Brussels for a meeting May 13 with officials of some
European countries and met May 14 with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in Sochi.
In early April Trump designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a
terrorist organization, the first time a government military force has
been placed on the list. The Revolutionary Guards are a key part of the
counterrevolutionary bourgeois clerical regime’s moves to extend its
influence in the region.
On May 12, Amirali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards air
division, responded provocatively, saying an aircraft carrier with
thousands of troops “was a serious threat for us in the past, but now it
is a target and the threats have switched to opportunities.”
But a spokesman for Major Gen. Hossein Salami, the head of the
Revolutionary Guards, played down the threat of military confrontation.
“The Americans have started a psychological war,” he said, “because the
comings and goings of their military is a normal matter.”
In This Issue
Front Page Articles •Washington sends carrier fleet to Mideast,
threatens Iran
•US hands off Venezuela! US hands off Cuba!
•Democrat witch hunt against Trump attacks workers’ rights
•Join in effort to go over the top in ‘Militant’, books, fund drive!
•ACLU, National Lawyers Guild back ‘Militant’ fight against ban
•US-China rulers’ trade dispute part of broader rivalry in Pacific
Feature Articles •Roundup: Uber drivers strike for wages, respect and a
union
Also In This Issue •Brutality of British rule in India reflected in
Amritsar massacre
•Albany forum panel discusses fight against police brutality
•New York City Hall moves to slash funds for public libraries
•Working class is the defender of learning and culture
•Farmers organize aid for flood-stricken Nebraskans
•Socialist Workers Party to host June 13-15 Active Workers Conference in
Ohio
•May Day brigade volunteers aid farmers in Cuba
•Campaign to expand reach of ‘Militant,’ books, fund April 6 – May 28
(week five)
Editorials •Bring ‘Militant’, books, fund drive home!
On the Picket Line •Amid construction boom, crane collapse in Seattle
kills 4 people
•Cedars-Sinai hospital workers picket over staffing, conditions
Books of the Month •The class struggle is the driving force of US and
world history
25, 50 and 75 years ago
Corrections
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David Hume
“ In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees
of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral
evidence. A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence. ”
― David Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
