Profits, climate disasters and war on Iran

Once again, President #47 exposed his utter contempt for the U.S. population when he remarked during a Garden City, New York, rally on Aug. 15 that paying “‘a tiny little bit more for your gasoline’ is worth the cost of ensuring ‘a very evil country’ could not have a nuclear weapon, one of his stated rationales for the [Iran] war.” (Huffington Post, Aug. 15)

And in his typical bullying style, he went on to say, “After we finish defeating Iran … pretty soon I’ll be declaring the Hormuz Strait a territory of the United States.”

The war on Iran began on Feb. 28 when the U.S. and Israel assassinated beloved Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei along with members of his family and massacred at least 168 Iranian schoolchildren.

In response to this terrorist attack, Iran justifiably blockaded the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf. One fifth of the world’s oil and gas passes through the Strait. Before this unprovoked war, over 130 ships used this vital waterway on a daily basis. As of Aug. 15, only two ships reportedly were allowed to use the Strait.

As a result of the war, energy prices have soared an estimated 29% since Feb. 28. The average price of gas at the pump as of Aug. 16 is $4.09. For #47 to tell people that carrying out this illegal war is worth paying higher gas prices once again exposes his utter disregard for the suffering and sacrifice that workers, including those who voted for him, are forced to endure.

And if this display of arrogance was not enough, eight of the world’s largest oil conglomerates — Aramco, BP, Shell, Equinor, TotalEnergies, Eni, Chevron and ExxonMobil — made a combined $93 billion in profits in just three months from April until the end of June based on the war. This amount is almost double the profits made by these firms within the same time period in 2025.

#47 has publicly criticized these multi-billionaire companies for price gouging and, therefore, has demanded that they lower their prices. But his bluster is only window dressing. A corporate boss himself, he knows better than anyone how these corporations operate.

It was also reported that these same eight are among other fossil fuel-driven corporations causing a tremendous increase in carbon emissions that are wreaking havoc on the environment. Carbon emissions are causing ongoing climate disasters, such as the devastating fires throughout Europe. These disasters have caused thousands of deaths and wreaked economic destruction over the past decade.

But this should not come to any surprise, especially for revolutionary activists who understand the underpinnings of capitalism. During the mass protests against the Vietnam War during the 1970s, a popular slogan was “Big firms get rich, GIs die.” This slogan was a clarion call for working-class troops to refuse to fight an imperialist war against the Vietnamese people that they have no interest in fighting. The slogan also showed how corporations make lucrative profits at the expense of millions of lives, if you include the Vietnamese people who were slaughtered.

This slogan could be extended today to say, “Oil firms get rich while the whole world suffers.”

This truth has not changed decades later. The very existence of capitalist corporations depends on their making profits no matter how much people and the environment suffer. Under capitalism, all forms of life are expendable, whether in the Global South or the Global North.

This is why the vast majority of the people should become more conscious of being part of the global working class. They must unite with each other to help defeat a global system of exploitation, plunder and imperialist war. #47 is just one small part of a global problem that only socialist revolution can resolve.