https://themilitant.com/2019/06/01/washingtons-moves-against-iran-hit-workers-hardest/
Washington???s moves against Iran hit workers hardest
??By Terry Evans
Vol. 83/No. 23
June 10, 2019
Washington continues to levy sanctions, issue threats against Iran, and
move military forces into the Mideast as it advances the predatory
interests of the U.S. imperialist rulers in the region. Washington aims
to force the Iranian government into talks to end its nuclear weapons
program and pull back the armed presence of Tehran???s forces and its
proxies in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere that has expanded the political and
military reach of the Iranian capitalist class.
If the Iranian rulers ???do something, it will be met with great force,???
said President Donald Trump May 20, increasing tensions between
Washington and Tehran that are dangerous for working people in the U.S.
and across the Mideast.
The government announced it was sending a further 1,500 troops, a
fighter aircraft squadron and a missile defense system to the region May
24. This comes on top of the vast firepower U.S. imperialism already
deploys across the Mideast ??? 50,000 troops with their warplanes,
warships, missile and bombs ??? to enforce its will.
While making threats, Trump also says Washington doesn???t seek a war.
Trump told Pentagon officials May 15 that ???he does not want the
intensifying American pressure campaign against the Iranians to explode
into open conflict,??? reported the New York Times.
???I think we???ll make a deal,??? he said while on a state visit to Japan May
27. ???We???re not looking for regime change. I just want to make that clear.???
Iran???s reactionary capitalist rulers have expanded their economic and
military influence through intervention into conflicts in the region,
pressing workers and farmers into their armed forces, and organizing
militias in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Deepening outrage among
working people in Iran over the bloody consequences of Tehran???s military
incursions lay behind protests and strikes that spread to 90 cities and
towns across the country early last year, before they were put down by
the regime.
Unrest among working people in Iran continues. They face double-digit
unemployment, double-digit inflation and ??? like workers in the U.S. ???
growing inequality between the capitalist rulers, backed by their
upper-middle-class retinues, and workers and farmers. Some 57 million
Iranians live in poverty and the economy continues to shrink.
Trade unionists who mounted an International Workers Day action outside
the Iranian parliament were arrested, Al-Monitor reported.
For nearly four decades Iran???s capitalist rulers sought to consolidate
the counterrevolution they carried out at home ??? to push back the
workers, farmers, women and oppressed nationalities who made the 1979
Iranian Revolution ??? by extending their reactionary reach abroad.
Sanctions hit working people hardest
Washington???s steps to tighten sanctions on Iran have intensified the
worsening conditions bearing down on workers and farmers there. Since
the U.S. government???s sanctions were reinstated last year, the rial has
lost 60% of its value against the dollar. The cost of basic food items
has risen by as much as 57% and housing and medical service costs are up
20%.
The capitalist rulers in Tehran recently brought armed units from Hashd
al-Shaabi in Iraq, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Afghan militia fighters
deployed in Syria to parade in southern Iran. One Iranian clerical
leader said this was a ???warning??? to the people that the regime will use
whatever means necessary to stay in power.
Military conflicts across the region, where Tehran and Washington
support opposing sides, continue. After suspending air raids on Saudi
Arabia last year, Tehran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen have stepped up
missile and drone strikes on Saudi cites and airports since the U.S.
began moving military personnel and equipment to the Middle East this
month.
The rulers of Saudi Arabia have carried out deadly airstrikes on Houthi
forces, seeking to restore the rule of deposed President Abed Rabbo
Mansour Hadi. As a result of the carnage inflicted on working people
during Yemen???s civil war nearly half the population live in famine.
Washington provides warplanes, bombs, arms and intelligence to the Saudi
monarchy.
Under terms of a U.N.-brokered truce in the Yemeni port of Hodeida
reached last year, humanitarian aid has been able to reach some of those
impoverished by the war and Houthi attacks on Saudi targets had largely
subsided.
In recent weeks Houthi combatants have launched a series of drone
bombings on Saudi targets, including the country???s main oil pipeline.
They have also attacked the Najran airport near the Saudi border with
Yemen three times.
In response, Saudi bombers have carried out a wave of attacks on Sana,
Yemen???s capital, which is occupied by the Houthis. One pulverized a
crowded residential area May 16, killing and wounding a few dozen,
including 19 children.
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On the Picket Line ???Union City, South Hayward teachers strike for higher pay
Books of the Month ??????Cuba???s revolution taught us we could do the same
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??? Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. ???
??? Carl Sagan