On June 13, 2025, Israel “preemptively” launched an attack against Iran. Like the excuse the US used in 2003 to attack Iraq, Israel claimed this attack was meant to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon that it might later use against it.
Attacking Iran is illegal
Needless to say, such an excuse is not a valid justification to attack another country under international law. Self-defence is only permitted when an attack is “imminent”. Here, it wasn’t. By all accounts, Iran didn’t even have the weapon that Israel was supposedly worried about. (Iraq’s invasion was at least based on the false premise that Saddam Hussein already had weapons of mass destruction). So Israel’s attack on Iran is illegal. It is the international crime of aggression.
Add that to the long list of crimes Israel has committed in the last year and a half (to say nothing of the crimes it committed before). That state has already enjoyed impunity for genocide and other war crimes because of the support it receives from US and its allies, including Canada.
The double standards and rule-bending in favour of Israel have created an existential crisis for the entire system of international law. The system’s highest institutions, including the International Criminal Court that issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders (as well as Hamas leaders who have since been killed), may not survive this crisis.
This shows that the system was always meant to serve, and not restrain, US imperialism — just as domestic laws around the world are meant to serve capitalism. International law has failed to protect the working class in third-world countries.
Attacking Iran will cost innocent lives
The genocide in Gaza has put the lie to Israel’s claim of having the “most moral” army in the world. In Iran, Israel’s attack has already killed 244 and injured 1277, including many civilians and children. Iran’s response has also led to civilian casualties in Israel, although much fewer. As of this writing, 13 have been reported killed in Israel, including at least four Palestinian citizens of that state — who don’t have the same access to shelters as its Jewish citizens.To put these numbers in perspective, Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza has killed more than 55,000, including more than 15,000 children.
These numbers will only increase as the war drags on. The focus of Israel’s attacks has quickly shifted from nuclear sites and the homes of military commanders targeted on the first day to civilian infrastructure — including oil depots, the civil service, and residential areas. As the objectives and strategies of Israel’s attack develop, a higher proportion of civilians are likely to be killed.
US and Israeli officials have already signaled that large numbers of ordinary people will suffer or be killed. The Israeli defense Minister has warned that “Tehran residents will pay the price.” Trump also issued an ultimatum that everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran, a city of more than 10 million. Such statements set the stage for mass atrocities.
Moreover, the new front in Israel’s war serves to divert attention from the ongoing use of starvation as a weapon of war in Gaza. Before the attack on Iran, Western governments had been pushed by grassroots movements to put modest pressure on Israel. Canada, the UK, and Australia, for example, sanctioned two members of the Israeli cabinet on June 10. Three days later, after Israel attacked Iran, those countries realigned themselves in support of Israel’s war effort. Prime Minister Mark Carney even went so far as to say Israel has a right to defend itself after it launched an unprovoked act of war. With the pressure on Israel all but dissipated, the death toll in Gaza is sure to rise even higher.
Attacking Iran undermines the Iranian working class
Times of war allow states to consolidate power in the name of national security. In 1988, Iran’s reactionary regime (the Islamic Republic or IR) used its war with Iraq as a cover to execute thousands of political prisoners, decimating leftist and other dissident organizations.
Today, IR continues to persecute political opponents, including labour organizers, human rights advocates, and environmental activists. Despite this intense repression, Iran has seen significant labour strikes and social movements in recent years, including the 2022 Woman, Life, Freedom movement. These movements are essential for advancing gender justice, national self-determination, and working-class organization.
Israel’s attack will permit IR to intensify its crackdown on these movements. IR has already started a new wave of restrictions on dissent. The lives of imprisoned civil society leaders, notably Pakhshan Azizi, Verisheh Moradi, and Sharifeh Mohammadi, who have been sentenced to execution, are in grave danger.
IR’s authoritarian leadership, including the slain commanders of the Revolutionary Guards, are no friends of the Iranian or the international working class. But individuals can be replaced. Unless the US intervenes, the regime itself will likely survive Israel’s attack. It may even be strengthened by rallying a segment of the society against a foreign enemy and repressing internal opposition.
If the conflict turns into a “regime change” project, on the other hand, the costs will be even greater. We should all hope that popular struggle will one day lead to radical socio-political transformation in Iran and across the region. But such a transformation will only be set back by a US-backed regime change project: just look at any other place that has been subject to such an imperial intervention (Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, etc.). In Iran’s case, the likely beneficiary of such a project will be Reza Pahlavi, the chauvinistic son of Iran’s former Shah — himself a ruthless US puppet who inspired the 1979 revolution.
Our liberation is ultimately bound up with each other’s. We must, therefore, go beyond demanding an immediate ceasefire between Iran and Israel. We must also demand a free Palestine and an end to all imperial aggression. Only then can the region, and the world, see peace.
Author
Did you like this article? Help us produce more like it by donating $1, $2, or $5. Donate
