As expected, the IAEA has finally issued its resolution against Iran. Now, the case will likely be reviewed by the UN Security Council. In response, the Islamic regime quickly claimed it would build a new enrichment facility in a “more secure” location! But that means it would take at least a year or more to reach any goal. So, a military attack on nuclear facilities especially Natanz, by Israel or even directly by the United States now seems quite likely.
At the same time, commanders from the IRGC are no longer using the usual aggressive tone. These corrupt military-economy elites are now claiming their “hands are tied.” So what were all those loud threats for?
Salami, commander-in-chief of the IRGC referring to foreign threats, claimed Iran is ready for any military scenario and has a “clear strategy” in place. He said that Iran’s “enemies” are threatening war, but the country’s armed forces are fully prepared and, if necessary, can deliver blows that “will make the enemy regret it.”
He added that the “depth of the enemy’s target” is now known to the Guards’ leadership and warned: “If our hands are freed, we will achieve victories that will make the enemy regret it.”
But, their hands should be free by whom? The United States? China? Russia? Who exactly? Allah? And if Allah isn’t with them—then who is?
These Scenes Aren’t New
This reminds me of those days in Tehran and Sanandaj, when we faced brutal police crackdowns just for standing up for Afghan kids who wanted to go to school—or for asking that poor children at least get one warm meal in class. And just like in Van, Ankara, or Istanbul, Kurdish activists and human rights teachers were arrested, beaten, and tortured. These images—they’re not new in the Middle East. But for someone in the West, who sees everything through one lens and doesn’t care about the struggles of others, this is suddenly the peak of human rights abuse. They don’t even realize—this violence didn’t just start yesterday.
That’s why there’s no real bridge between us. Israel commits crimes, and at the same time, they expect us to stay quiet about the violent, fascist regimes in our region—like the one ruling in Iran. As if those regimes, not the people rising against them, are the ones resisting barbarism. But we’re not looking to these governments for answers. Our eyes are on the activists—from our own countries—who are now heading toward Gaza. The same ones Western media never talk about. And let’s be honest—they probably don’t even know anything about these movements unless it’s something organized from Europe or the U.S.
Let me remind you of the 2015 bombing in Suruç. A group of activists was planning to go to Kobani, bringing aid for the people there. And once again, the Turkish state showed up, blocked everything, and blamed it all on “terrorists”—using that excuse to stop even the smallest act of human solidarity.
Yeah, these scenes are not new for us in the Middle East.
And I just hope every single one of these people gets home safe and free.
The Silence of the States
The idea of marching to Gaza is a very human and radical idea. However, I kept wondering why the Islamic Republic and Turkey were silent about it. Today, after seeing how the Egyptian government responded to the march, it became clearer: Palestine is no longer a real issue for any of the governments in the region. What we are seeing instead is the division of the region and the search for an agreement where every player gets something for themselves.
The Islamic Republic, at this moment, does not want to offer any more concessions to the United States and Israel beyond letting the “Axis of Resistance” fall apart. The nuclear issue is not the main discussion for the regime anymore. Iran has already reached an irreversible stage in nuclear technology, and the West must accept it. The real issue now is Israel. In this situation, China and Russia—while calling themselves Iran’s strategic and important partners—are actually gaining the most economic and political benefit from their relations with Israel. So the question is: how much does keeping the Middle East unstable help China and Russia expand and strengthen their own hegemony?
Despite all the warlike rhetoric, it seems unlikely that the situation will get more complicated. After years of tension, Iran and Egypt are now improving their relations. The name of Khalid Islambouli Street in Tehran (named after the assassin of Anwar Sadat), which had been a symbol of cold relations between the two countries for decades, is now set to be changed. A strong signal from Tehran to Cairo—right at the time when Cairo is cracking down on people marching towards Gaza!
The same is true for Turkey. Even though Turkish state media gave wide coverage to the march, inside Turkey itself there was no real action or organization. Absolutely nothing. Even the small leftist groups that tried to protest—especially against the ship (VELA) carrying military raw from Spain to Israel, which is supposed to dock at Mersin port—received no media coverage, and in some cases, were even repressed.
Palestine Is Not a Propaganda Tool
Repression, censorship, and language isolation in Iran are not just technical tools to silence protests. They are part of a clear political project: to completely erase the left from public memory and from any form of historical political activity. The left in Iran has not only been repressed but actively removed from international visibility. Without translation, real connections, or presence in global platforms, what the world sees as “the Iranian left” is mostly a reflection of the Islamic regime’s propaganda and its allies in so-called “anti-imperialist” circles. This image does not show the left as part of the working class movement, but as an ideological arm of regional security alliances. It is a complete distortion of the real history and politics of the Iranian left.
In this space, organizations with a so-called left appearance claim to speak for the Iranian people and use slogans against Zionism and imperialism, while working hand in hand with some of the most militarized and reactionary forces in power. A recent protest in Tehran, supposedly in solidarity with Palestine, had no real link to the struggles of people in Iran. It was also disconnected from the real situation in Palestine. It was a display of power by forces that beat workers, arrest teachers, and prevent any kind of independent labor organization inside Iran. Here, politics is not used as a tool for liberation, but as a tool for repression and manipulation.
Supporters of this protest say nothing about the real history of the left in Iran. They ignore the deep structural violence that grew especially after 2009, when independent social movements were brutally suppressed. They pretend every opposition in Iran is just a tool of the West or Zionism. But this is a complete reversal of reality. What was crushed in 2009 was not just a fight between factions inside the regime. It was a moment when part of society tried to reopen political space—space where the repressed left and working class could re-enter. After that, a long-term project started: to engineer society politically, to erase political agency, and to destroy any form of independent class-based politics.
In this situation, the name of Palestine is not used for real liberation, but to give legitimacy to this reactionary project. For us in Iran, Palestine is a central issue. But for the Islamic regime and its regional allies, it is only a propaganda tool to justify repression at home. The working class in Iran, which is fighting for bread and for organizing, is being crushed by the same forces that present themselves as “anti-Zionist” internationally. These forces don’t even bother to look at the real situation of Iranian workers. In their analysis, politics only means geopolitical alignment: either with the U.S., or with the Islamic Republic.
But class politics is not like that. In Iran, the worker is still a political subject. They are fighting to intervene, to organize, and to change the structure of power. But the Islamic Republic, using all its military, security, and cultural tools, has tried to destroy this agency. The whole logic of the so-called “Axis of Resistance” is based on that: to remove independent politics and replace it with ideological loyalty to states. In this environment, any possibility of real solidarity with Palestine—as a people’s cause, not a government slogan—is erased.
If we ignore the connection between class struggles in Iran and in the rest of the Middle East, including Palestine, if we don’t recognize the Iranian worker as part of this regional struggle, then Palestine will remain just a symbol, and not move toward real liberation. That’s why we say again, and clearly: yes, Palestine is a central issue for us. But not as a tool to support religious reaction. It is part of a broader struggle against the entire structure of capitalist power—whether it comes in Islamic form, in neoliberal form, or under the name of Western human rights.
From this perspective, the recent government-sponsored protests in Tehran are not a minor issue. They are a political project. These protests aim to erase the left, to distort the meaning of solidarity, and to strengthen Islamic fascism. The answer to this situation is to rebuild class-based agency, return to independent politics, and organize from below. Not to follow false divisions of “imperialism versus anti-imperialism,” which only end up reproducing the same systems of repression and power we’re supposed to fight against.
We Are Against War, All Empires
The criticism is not only directed at Islamic fascism and the domestic forces of repression. What is happening by the regime in the region is not resistance—it is part of a bloody proxy war, where people are sacrificed for the geopolitical interests of global powers. We should stand against war. Against the wars of the United States, against the wars of Israel, against all policies that turn people into victims for the sake of dominance, control of resources, or military-security agendas.
At the same time, we should also reject the policies that have turned Iran into a pawn in the new imperial games of China and Russia. These policies not only ignore the country’s internal crises, but also use war and ideology to take society hostage. We are against all forms of imperialist intervention—whether it comes under the flag of America, the Islamic banner of “resistance,” the language of Chinese state capitalism, or Russian-style security logic.
We want peace—but peace built through social struggle, not through compromise or repression. A peace in which workers, women, students, and the oppressed in Iran, Palestine, and across the region can once again become political subjects—not tools of states propaganda.
