Conditions for workers in Iran are catastrophic. The collapse of the currency, corruption, inequality, austerity, unpaid wages and unemployment are coupled with average inflation of 42%, but much higher inflation for staples such as food which is 72% and bread 113%. These are figures for late December and have all since increased. The regime has offered a derisory monthly subsidy of 10 million rials ($6.50) for every Iranian, when average protein for survival costs 70 million rials ($45.5). All this led to strikes and protests in many cities throughout the country with isolated groups of workers bravely raising the banner of class interests and overthrow of capitalism. In particular, worker activists from Kurdistan and Azerbaijan have called for the unification of the fragmented working-class protests, for political consciousness and organisation of a political party. They end their statement: “Yes, to class organisation, yes, to the working-class revolution.” They also warn against the protests being hijacked by imperialist forces and protesting workers being used as infantry by US imperialism in the struggle to overthrow the regime and make the country a client of the US, as it was under the Shah before 1979. They state,

Today’s subversion is not a project for liberation, but the domestic arm of American imperialism and global Zionism. [sic] … This project attempts to appropriate the legitimate protests of the subordinate masses and turn them into infantry attacks.

leftcom.org

The regime responded to the protests by shooting workers in their thousands. And unfortunately, the predictions that the protests would be exploited by rival imperialist factions have come to pass. The secret services of US imperialism, notably the CIA, Israel’s Mossad and the UK’s MI6, have set up cells within Iran and likely infiltrated fighters amongst whom were Kurdish Nationalists, Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MeK), ISIS and monarchists, provided them with training, arms and communication equipment. Some of these organisations have fought for many years against the regime and become US tools for overthrowing the regime. For instance, the MeK has a long and violent history of opposition to the Islamic Republic and was designated a terrorist organisation by the US, but that didn’t stop the US taking it over as a proxy after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Since 2013, they have been headquartered in Albania at the request of the US. These groups have undoubtedly taken advantage of the protests to provoke violence, burning of schools, libraries, buses, ambulances, mosques and even murdering the protestors themselves, all in order to provoke a violent response from the forces of the regime. Such a response, it was hoped, would trigger the planned attack of US military forces and give the regime its death blow. Now, with the dead numbered over 5,000, the Islamic regime has succeeded in getting control of the situation. The regime also cut off the Internet and mobile networks, making it difficult for the mass of the population to communicate, but also breaking down any communication between cells and their handlers in Tel Aviv and CIA centres. Massive numbers of Starlink terminals had been provided to mitigate that, but then that was also shut off. The technology used to shut down Starlink shows strong similarities to that used in Ukraine by Russia. Following the shutdown and the violent crackdown, the protests subsided and large pro-regime demonstrations occurred in Tehran and elsewhere.

Regime Change Plans

For the US, achieving regime change in Iran has become an important part in the struggle to reverse the erosion of US global hegemony. Knocking out Iran is important for US imperialism because of its importance for both Russia and China. It forms a key link in the Belt and Road Initiative linking China to Europe and in the North/South transport corridor linking India, the Persian Gulf and Russia. For the US, capturing Iran would disrupt these plans, cut off China’s oil supply from Iran, which at present is about 15% of its imports, and both open the way to central Asia and a route to allow it to destabilise Russian southern republics. All this would make an attack on the main enemy, China, easier. What occurred at the end of December and early January was a classic regime change operation, a follow up to the failed attempt in June 2025. These are the steps of the US playbook: first, produce immiseration through sanctions or collapsing the currency, for example. Then cynically support protests and spread disinformation. And finally, if necessary, intervene militarily to give the regime its coup de grâce. What occurred in Libya was the way things were supposed to go. Although the US has aborted military intervention, at the time of writing, a massive armada of naval power and aircraft is being assembled. It is likely that this is only a temporary pause, because for the US, Iranian regime change is still unfinished business.

Capitalism Must be Overthrown

For the Iranian working class this massive bloodletting is a setback. It amounts to a huge loss of life, but caused by the interests of rival imperialisms. The class struggle has been undermined, and the end result has been large pro-regime demonstrations amounting to workers rallying to the nation and strengthening the barbaric capitalist Islamic regime. The few rays of light in this dark situation are the statements we have received from workers’ groups in the country. The statements recognise that the Islamic regime is a form of capitalism with the Islamic bourgeoisie living on the exploitation of the working class. As one of the statements says, the root cause of the conflict, death and suffering is the “crisis ridden capitalist system itself.” The only force which can end capitalism is the working class. In 2018 the Haft Tepeh sugar cane workers raised the slogan “Bread, Jobs, Freedom – Soviet Power!” (see leftcom.org). This shows an understanding that it is necessary to move beyond capitalism and organise production through organs like workers’ councils. This understanding is key. A higher system of production is needed by humanity. A system where production is for human needs, not profit, where wage labour, classes, money, and states are abolished. However, this can only be accomplished on a global scale and requires international class struggle and an international class party. The steps towards this must include continuing the class struggle, unifying the workers movements throughout the country and forming a political organisation which can give a lead in future struggles, as called for by the statement of the Kurdistan and Azerbaijan workers. A future party needs to be part of the international party of the working class. Iranian nationalism, as every other nationalism, must be rejected, and in the event of a renewed US attack, revolutionary defeatism must be our answer. No support for either side in the imperialist war. Foreign workers are not your enemies, the real enemy is your own capitalist class. The real enemy is at home!

No War but the Class War!

The above article is taken from the current edition (No. 74) of Aurora, bulletin of the Communist Workers’ Organisation.

Notes:

Image: t.me