World leaders concerned as U.S., Israel threaten Iran

On June 18, a U.S. carrier group quietly slipped through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea, headed toward the Persian Gulf. The Harry S. Truman Carrier Strike Force included an aircraft carrier, a guided missile cruiser and nearly a dozen Aegis-class destroyers. Also included were the German frigate GGS Hessen and at least one Israeli vessel.

Three nuclear-powered carriers with their complements of destroyers and cruisers, amphibious assault ships, and 10,000 combat personnel are now arrayed off Iran’s coasts.

This military buildup occurred only days after the United Nations Security Council passed a U.S.-backed resolution imposing new economic and military sanctions on Iran. One provision allows the U.S. Navy to board and search “suspicious” ships. The U.S. recently concluded live-fire-bombing practices against targets in the Gulf bordering Iran.

Late in May an Iranian patrol spotted a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, which allows 40 percent of all the oil produced worldwide to pass through on its way to Asia, the U.S. and Western Europe.

Iran is already preparing for war on its northwestern border with Azerbaijan. On June 22 General Mehdi Moini of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards announced, “The mobilization is due to the presence of American and Israeli forces on the western border [of Azerbaijan],” adding that “Reinforcements are being dispatched to West Azerbaijan Province because some Western countries are fueling ethnic conflicts to destabilize the situation in the region.” (FARS, June 28) Convoys of tanks, artillery, anti-aircraft units and infantry are headed toward Azerbaijan and the Caspian Sea.

Although the U.S. and Israel have long denied having troops in Azerbaijan, given the history of disinformation by both, there is not much reason to believe them now.

Iran is surrounded by U.S. troops — in Iraq on its western border and in Afghanistan and Pakistan on the east. Across the Persian Gulf to the south is Abu Dhabi, home of the U.S. Fifth Fleet. Azerbaijan to the north completes the encirclement.

In an ominous development, Iran’s news agency reported that the Israeli Air Force recently unloaded military equipment at a Saudi Arabian base near Tabuk. Reportedly the Saudis have realigned their missile defense system to allow an air corridor for Israeli planes in case of a war with Iran.

Is war imminent? Fidel’s warning

What can Iran do? On June 30 Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s vice president and director of the nuclear program, announced that Iran has produced another 37 pounds of uranium enriched to 20 percent. Iran has a right to do this under the nuclear nonproliferation treaty, which it signed (and Israel has not). Iran maintains that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. Contrast this with the U.S.’s 10,000 nuclear weapons and Israel’s 300 or so.

The 20 percent level of enrichment achieved by Iran is far below the level needed to produce a nuclear weapon, although it is sufficient for peaceful purposes. Among the nations which are now enriching uranium are Argentina, Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Iran, Japan, the Netherlands, Pakistan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States. Belgium, Iran, Italy and Spain hold investments in the French Eurodif enrichment plant. Australia has developed SILEX, a laser enrichment process, which it will pursue through financial investment in a U.S. commercial venture by General Electric.

Iran has both the right and the capability to fight back. It is a vast country with a population of more than 70 million people. Only the most rabid U.S. and Israeli adventurers believe they could win a conventional war with Iran. The U.S. is already bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan. Iranian military and government officials have warned that in case of an attack by either the U.S. or Israel, the country will target 32 American bases in the Middle East and Israel and will close the strategic Strait of Hormuz

The forces of imperialism cannot always be counted on to behave rationally. This is the concern of Fidel Castro, who knows what it is like to have one’s country threatened with military attack, including by nuclear weapons. “I don’t doubt in the least that as soon as the U.S. and Israeli warships occupy their positions — along with the rest of the U.S. military ships located near the Iranian coastline — and try to inspect the first merchant ship from that country, a shower of missiles will be set off in all directions. It will be the exact moment in which the terrible war will begin. It’s impossible to predict how many ships will sink, nor under which flag.” (Reflections, June 27)

Fidel continued: “What would be [the worst] is to suddenly be made aware of news of serious events, without having heard any news whatsoever beforehand about such possibilities, thereby falling into confusion and panic.“

Not only people in the Middle East, but progressives worldwide should be prepared. Anti-imperialist and anti-war forces everywhere must redouble their efforts to stop a war on Iran.