October
16, 2023
Amid
a genocide against the people of Gaza by the Israeli military, the United
States is threatening to unleash a war throughout the Middle East targeting
Iran.
Over
the weekend, bombs continued to rain down on Gaza, killing hundreds of people
each day. A population of two million is being systematically murdered through
starvation and thirst, while one million people in Northern Gaza are being
forced on a death march in advance of an imminent ground invasion.
This image shows two US aircraft carrier strike groups on patrol in the South China Sea in 2020. [AP Photo]
This
genocide has the full support of the Biden administration, which has given
Israel a blank check to carry out war crimes. Operationally, Israel’s actions
are being overseen by the United States. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin visited Israel last week, and Blinken is
scheduled to return this week.
Israel’s
war on Gaza has been accompanied by a massive expansion of the US military
presence in the region, led by the deployment of two aircraft carriers and
their associated battle groups. The dispatch of an armada of over a dozen
warships to the Middle East is not simply to threaten Hamas, which has no navy.
The United States is preparing for a much broader conflict in the Middle East,
including war with Iran.
The
US is using the present crisis to put into effect long-standing plans for a war
with Iran, as the Middle Eastern front of the US war with Russia and war plans
against China. On Saturday, Austin announced that the US would double its
military assets deployed in the Middle East, sending a second carrier strike
group, led by the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower, to the region.
Austin
said the strike group “includes the guided-missile cruiser USS Philippine Sea,
guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely and USS Mason, and Carrier Air Wing 3,
with nine aircraft squadrons.” The Eisenhower will join the USS Gerald R. Ford
carrier strike group, which has already been deployed to the region. Austin
noted, “The Ford CSG includes the USS Normandy, USS Thomas Hudner, USS Ramage,
USS Carney, and USS Roosevelt.” Earlier in the week, the US Air Force announced
deployment to the region of squadrons of F-15, F-16 and A-10 fighter aircraft.
Each
nuclear-powered carrier strike group has a total personnel of up to 8,000
sailors, airmen and Marines, meaning that over 15,000 troops have been deployed
to the Middle East in the span of just over one week, alongside dozens of other
aircraft and thousands of support personnel.
These
plans could not have been put into practice at the drop of a hat. There are
indications that the Netanyahu government and US intelligence agencies had some
degree of advance knowledge of an attack from Hamas, though they were shocked
by the scale of the rebellion. In any case, the Israeli regime had planned for
an all-out war against the Palestinians, in part to deflect from its escalating
internal social and political crisis.
The
United States, for its part, has used the crisis to put into effect its own
plans for escalation against Iran.
US
officials have made clear that the aircraft carriers are targeting Iran. On
Friday, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said, “There is a risk of an
escalation of this conflict, the opening of a second front in the north, and,
of course, of Iran’s involvement… It’s why the president moved so rapidly and
decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the Eastern Mediterranean, to get
aircraft into the Gulf, because he wants to send a very clear message of
deterrence.”
In
an editorial Sunday night, the Wall Street Journal wrote, “The Ayatollahs in
Tehran need to understand that more than their terrorist proxies are at risk.
They need to know that their nuclear sites and oil fields are also on the
target list.” Echoing these points, Senator Lindsay Graham raised the prospect
of a declaration of war against Iran, which he said he had discussed with the
White House.
“I’ll
introduce a resolution in the United States Senate to allow military action by
the United States, in conjunction with Israel, to knock Iran out of the oil
business,” he said. “Iran, if you escalate this war, we’re coming for you.”
In
an interview on 60 Minutes, Biden seemed to imply support for opening a second
front in the war and attacking Lebanon’s Hezbollah political party. “Going in
and taking out the extremists, Hezbollah is up north but Hamas down South, is a
necessary requirement,” Biden said, adding, “Iran constantly supports Hamas and
Hezbollah.”
In
this context, there is the possibility that the US will stage some sort of
provocation to justify a war against Iran. Significantly, National Security
Council spokesperson John Kirby said he would not rule out deploying US troops
in combat in the present crisis, ostensibly to save hostages held by Hamas. The
deployment of US troops on the ground would not be about saving hostages, whose
lives are of no significance to American imperialism, but at directly involving
the US military in a developing conflict with Iran.
The
United States has planned for a war against Iran for decades. In January 2002,
following the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, then-President George W. Bush
called Iran part of an “Axis of Evil” that included Iraq, which the United
States invaded and occupied the next year. Inside the White House, Bush
administration officials were fond of the saying, “Boys go to Baghdad, but real
men go to Tehran.”
The
US conflict with Iran was massively intensified under the Trump administration.
Following the 2018 US withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal, Iran shot down a
US drone over the Strait of Hormuz in June 2019. That month, then-President
Donald Trump ordered a series of airstrikes on Iranian targets, which he called
off at the last minute while the planes were already in the air.
In
January 2020, the US murdered Qasem Soleimani, the commander of Iran’s Quds
Force and a major figure in the Iranian military establishment.
The
development of a full-scale war in the Middle East is a continuation of the
same policies that have led to the protracted and escalating US-NATO war
against Russia over Ukraine. The US instigated the conflict with the aim of
militarily defeating Russia and orchestrating a regime-change operation. The
war against Russia is seen as preparatory to a military conflict with China.
The
free rein given to Israel to commit mass murder against the population of Gaza,
and the intensifying US war plans against Iran, must be seen in the context of
the eruption of what is, in effect, the initial stages of a third world war.
The
war plans of US imperialism are being disrupted by a growing movement of the
working class, which is intersecting with a global movement against imperialist
war. Over the weekend, millions of people marched in the Middle East, Europe
and the United States in opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
The
massive escalation of war will be paid for through an escalation of the assault
on the working class, which has already sparked a growing strike wave in the US
and all the major capitalist countries.
The
eruption of popular opposition to Israeli genocide must be connected to the
developing class struggle over inequality and exploitation. This requires the
building of a socialist leadership in the working class, fusing the fight
against war with opposition to the capitalist profit system.
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