This is a thread specifically for the war, not a general megathread (use the pinned /c/genzedong thread for that).
Please keep related news in this thread rather than making separate posts. Remember to include sources and avoid spreading rumours.
Found on an Iranian Telegram. Let me know your thoughts.
"As for people betting “Trump” won’t use nuclear weapons - they still don’t get “Trump” isn’t in charge of anything.
This is an all-or-nothing bid by the US to maintain primacy over the planet before losing it permanently.
The unelected US corporate-financier establishment - pushing for wars since the inception of America as a nation - have ALREADY USED NUCLEAR WEAPONS - TWICE!!!
They considered using them on Korea, Vietnam, and even as recently as Afghanistan.
DO NOT let the US pin this solely on a single politician, or an administration or a US proxy. Make sure EVERYONE involved is blamed and held accountable.
This is called compartmentalization - dividing up your political fronts when dirty work is required so you can flush the consequences down with one or more of these fronts while keeping the political whole more or less intact.
The US literally does this every 4-8 years with presidents and scores of wars of aggression and other horrible foreign and domestic policies - and they will do it with this time as well.
It wasn’t “Clinton,” “Bush,” or “Obama’s” wars (although they are accomplices and equally guilty) - they are Wall Street and Washington wars - every single one of them - no matter who is picked to sell them and take the fall for them.
If you never expose and hold Wall Street and Washington as a whole accountable, they will continue their compartmentalization game forever without end."
It is pretty much my thinking too, the US state just loves putting the blame of their atrocities on a single individual to whitewash themselves, just a few rotten apples! don’t mind the entire state apparatus (media included because it is part of the state) serving them unquestionably nor the entire military infrastructure in the region, that didn’t just materialize when Trump won elections.
Libs love pushing the narrative about how democratic the US state is and all the mechanisms to stop tyranny and whatever, but they do seem to quickly drop all of that behind whenever the capitalist class decides to wage war.
Cheap oil is the basis of the global capitalist system. If that is gone, then we will see revolutions spout through the western world, and a dependence on Chinese solar / battery tech.
Thus, any and all measures will be made to maintain this system. This includes preserving oil reserves, including Iranian reserves.
They will not be using a nuclear option, because 1. it will irradiate Iranian reserves and 2. it will not guarantee surrender, and Iran will retaliate by completely destroying oil reserves in gulf states.
This war is not ideological. Well, it is, but the ideology is based on forced acquisition of private property, namely Iran’s oil reserves. They won’t do anything to compromise that.
I agree with the spirit of it. I’m doubtful of anyone’s commitment to letting nukes loose though (but I fully believe there are warhawks who consider it - IIRC, the “Cuban Missile Crisis” was one such event). As Trump is a mask off version of the status quo, it makes sense he may express openly, or sound like he’s expressing, consideration of nukes.
But no matter how deranged the empire gets, setting off nukes in this geopolitical landscape is unprecedented territory. This isn’t the US bombing Japan at the end of WWII where the US was the only one who had nukes. If the US uses nukes now, anti-imperialist nuclear powers would be pressured to retaliate (namely: Russia, China). Otherwise, the new precedent is that you can nuke whatever country you want, as long as they can’t nuke back. And that sort of precedent in the hands of a declining empire lashing out would mean it starts viewing its nukes as a valid option for blowing up entire peoples.
Nukes in Iran would also not crush Iran or its resistance. It would senselessly mass murder for no real gain. Remaining Iranians would have all the more vicious hatred for the US and double-down on efforts to block the Strait and break the empire economically. Trump would cement himself as an international pariah (his ego clearly doesn’t want that).
So although I fully believe those conversations get had because the empire is brutal as hell, it would not be something it can really come back from. I think the greater likelihood is that this is spectacle and it’s Trump trying to intimidate, while they focus on a more kidnapping-of-Maduro style of operation.
Either way, I hope the anti-imperialist nuclear powers are having those conversations about what they would do if the US did try to nuke Iran.
I definitely agree.
I mean, as long as the pressure builds and there is no vent, it is entirely possible that they use nukes imo.
This might be an existential war for Iran, but i feel like the US elites are feeling like it is existential for them too even though the US as a whole may be able to survive, the elites might lose wealth and that is unacceptable.
I agree in general, but I do think it doesn’t help that the leadership is irrational specifically (not just Trump of course)
I think it’s possible that Trump will use nukes - what else could defeat Iran’s mountain fortifications? There is no larger explosion than a nuke, so perhaps a ground penetrating weapon with a nuclear warhead will be used to destroy Iran’s deepest missile bases? Otherwise Iran will be able to launch missiles for several more weeks.
this is probably obvious but this is really the basis of the stability of liberal democracies. do a secret speech every 2-12 years and blame all the bad stuff on one person (who’s really too rich to care)
🇮🇷| Seen at Tehran’s metro station:
“Iran does not abandon Lebanon.”
Woke up to a ceasefire
Israel fucks up again
Strait of Hormuz is closed again
Boy, it was a good… hour? Maybe?
🇺🇸 🇮🇷 🇮🇱 🇱🇧 BREAKING: Iran closes the Strait of Hormuz, which was partially open for around 10 minutes this morning, until further notice due to Israel’s attack on Lebanon – Fars
Btw, I had finally got my permaban on Reddit by stating that it is time for a retaliation on Israel’s logistics railway.
May Israel, the US and their colonial lackeys suffer every bit of torment they have inflicted upon this world.
Btw, I had finally got my permaban on Reddit by stating that it is time for a retaliation on Israel’s logistics railway.
What did the mod-message say? Seems extra nakedly hypocritical with all the genocidal screenshots I’ve seen off there.
They invoke Rule 1, “No threaten harm and violence”. Every single time its fine for the Empire and their supporters to wish, threaten, and jeer about harm on the rest of the world, and it’s never OK to return 1/10 of the favor for them. Not even by suggesting they deserve what they do to others.
Edit: Its just a feeling, but it seems like they are more sensitive this time around even when compared to 2024 when Israel came under the scrutiny of the world and the world started to see the US Empire for what it is. When reactionaries become sensitive and jumping to retaliate ten times out of ten they are scared. So, the empire is feeling under the weather. A bit of solice for myself, though I do want to see them crumble.
No problem, I’m sure showing restraint against genocidal entities hellbent on, well, genocide, will go a long way for Iran.
God, stop fucking around and develop a nuke already. All morality and religious ethics are worthless if your people are blown up on the daily.
I hope this is a wake up call for the Iranian leadership. They will NEVER be forgiven for showing the US’ weakness to the world. Israel and US will never negotiate in good faith. The only ending they have in mind is the complete destruction of Iran.
And if the moderates in Iran still can’t make peace with that, then I hope the hardliners know what to do with such moderates.
—❗️🇬🇧/🇮🇷 NEW: BBC is manufacturing consent for genocide in Iran, faking quotes of alleged ‘Iranian citizens’ from Tehran saying they would be ‘OK’ with an atomic bomb being dropped on Iran
@Middle_East_Spectator
https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/30469
who tf could POSSIBLY BELIEVE THIS SHIT!!!
“hrrm why yes British Broadcasting Corporation, i AM fine with being fucking nuked and bombed back into the classical era cuz Freedumb”
Hell will be hot for these insects but not nearly hot enough.
—❗️🇺🇸/🇮🇪 NEW: An Irish man broke into Shannon Airport, getting on top of an American C-130 cargo plane and smashing it with a hammer
https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/30849
https://www.thejournal.ie/us-aircraft-shannon-attacked-7009833-Apr2026/
Edit THERE IS VIDEO!
Video in https://t.me/DDGeopolitics/181680
The man was arrested by Gardaí and the Armed Support Unit.
Shannon has been used as a key US military transit hub throughout the Iran war, despite the Irish government’s insistence it is not being used for war operations.
Edit 2
The guy was able to take the aircraft out of service by damaging the fuselage!
Trump really out there saying a whole civilization will die today like it’s a normal thing
It’s shit like that what makes me hate when people try to humanize the oligarchy. “Anyone with that much wealth would act that way.”
Nah fam, I just wouldn’t be able to be that rich.
The reason people have a hard time accepting that the US oligarchy is truly so evil, is because they are incapable of understanding that yes, those people that have been placed in those positions, are truly THAT evil, and that’s WHY they are there.
Like, this circles back to the concept of class. Their relation to the means of production fundamentally discounts accountability. Their consequences of their actions do not directly affect them, and so they can adopt these positions and many others.
It’s not good or evil. People who are part of the bourgeois proper are disconnected from society as a whole.
You have to be “evil” to be/maintain being rich period. At best you are mooch failson/faildaughter or sugar babe whose just tangentially complicit.
The pure terror that will be displayed if you told someone from a “comfortable family” about the “moral” superiority of the mooch layabout over the hardworking selfmade ceo just proves the fundamental incompatibility of class created principles.
It’s shit like that what makes me hate when people try to humanize the oligarchy. “Anyone with that much wealth would act that way.”
That’s not what the humanizing argument is. It’s that 1) human beings are in fact capable of being that fucked up, which leads to 2) we can do something about it in how we design systems going forward, i.e. it’s not an inevitability that the most monstrous of human beings exist in the first place.
If we instead insist 1) the worst of us aren’t human, that leads 2) there are literal monsters among us whose origin is beyond our comprehension and control, and all we can do is try to catch them before they do damage and kill them before they gain any power.
In practice, the first mindset is typically associated with liberation forces and what they practice and believe. The second mindset is typically associated with class and caste, racism and things like that. Note that this does not mean the liberation forces are pacifist in the face of already existing monstrous human beings, nor does this mean they feel a need to mourn the death of a violent oppressor. It just means that they do not treat the existence of the worst people as an inevitable part of life.
So, it’s not that “anyone with that much wealth would act that way.” It’s that a system that produces an oligarchy also produces and elevates sociopathic behavior. It’s not a flip of a switch that means everyone over a certain amount of wealth instantly starts acting like the top worst kind of human being. It’s more of a gradual process and we’re not going to tend to hear as much about the ones with wealth whose character is a “lesser evil”, whose ties to industry are exploitative but whose personal MO remains somewhat conscientious. After all, rare as they may be, class traitors do exist. Generalities about what a system produces do not prevent exceptions to the rule.
It’s shit like that what makes me hate when people try to humanize the oligarchy.
I mean, we definitelly should treat them as humans, even if only because not doing so is underestimating the enemy.
Though if anything, it’s preciselly because they are humans that we should be ruthless and thorough in dealing with them.
Warning: if anyone ventures into resistance chats, you will find a very interesting and timely operation spreading doomerism
Don’t fall for them. This is not new and it has happened several times before.
Don’t let them demoralize you or your comrades.
Don’t let them antagonize allies of the resistance.
Patience is key. Trust in the resistance and trust in the courageous people fighting the Usraeli beast.
🇮🇷🇱🇧🇮🇱| ❗️ Iran is finalising plans to respond to Israel’s ceasefire violations on Lebanon
A security-military informed source told the official Fars News outlet:
Following Israel’s continued violation of the temporary ceasefire against Lebanon and Hezbollah, Iran is in the process of finalising to carry out deterrent operations against Israeli military positions in ‘Israel’.
This source emphasized:
In Tehran, the notion is being strengthened that the continuation of attacks by the regime despite agreements on all fronts indicates that either the US cannot control Netanyahu or the US Central Command has granted freedom of action to the Zionist regime.
🇮🇷| Iranian MP, Amirhossein Sabeti:
As predicted, the enemy immediately violated the ceasefire, and Qalibaf correctly stated that with the violation of the ceasefire, further negotiation is no longer logical.
But merely declaring a position is not enough. Israel and the US bases must again come under fire on the ground to show that Iran’s response is balanced.
The 10-point plan, which America was supposed to agree to as a basis for negotiation in Islamabad, has apparently NOT been agreed to.
The inclusion of Lebanon in the ceasefire, which was explicitly stated in the Pakistani readout, has apparently also NOT been agreed to.
So the situation is that America and Israel have both backtracked on the only promises they made yesterday.
In turn, Iran has continued to close the Strait of Hormuz and is preparing a possible retaliation against Israel.
Anyway, back to the war it seems.
I’m looking at the pentagon pizza index and there’s increased activity (400%) on papa John’s pizza.
Highly likely they’re planning a strike.
I won’t link the site because it’s disgusting.
Apparently Trump is threatening to withdraw troops from NATO countries if they refuse to get involved and please God just once let us have this win please
From Sony Thang:
You know what keeps the empire running more than any aircraft carrier?
The American who knows something is wrong but has decided it’s too big to fight.
The resignation.
The learned helplessness.
The “what am I supposed to do about it.”They manufactured that feeling deliberately.
Make the system feel permanent.
Make alternatives feel impossible.
Make dissent feel futile.A population that has given up is cheaper to manage than a population that is afraid.
And they have both.
Source -> https://xcancel.com/nxt888/status/2041147551236465001#m
This is a pretty accurate assessment of the core issue about organizing in the US. Few are willing to commit to radical action and it’s not hard to see why.
For example, I’m sure many here are aware of that one video from the recent demonstrations, where protesters managed to break the door of an ICE facility. Then they simply walked backwards and cheered, not one person choosing to actually go into the facility and escalate.
Many online comrades scoffed at this, noting how neutered the American left is. They were correct in their suggestion that the US left self terminates radical action, which is mind numbing to say the least.
However I’d like to perhaps explain the headspace that these protestors likely had.
For one, there’s the pretty good chance that if they went into the facility, they’d just get shot.
well risk has to exist in every action, so the problem is that Americans still have too much to lose
This works to explain some of the inertia but there’s more.
When those protesters think about getting shot, it’s not just what they have to lose that influences them. It’s the thought of “what would giving my life actually accomplish?” Which I feel is a more paralyzing thought, as he answer is quite simple.
“Not much” is what the protesters will determine.
And it’s for good reason.
I want you to think about how the US public reacts to crackdowns broadly. How they react to their own state suppressing them let alone how it suppresses the Global South.
Americans would see a protestor, or even a score of protesters, getting mowed down in an ICE facility, and frankly, I know they wouldn’t do shit about it.
They’d declare their outrage, but they’d just take it as evidence that this is the result of fighting back.
That thought of “what would giving up my life acheive” followed by “I know my fellow countryman wouldn’t do a damn thing about it” basically completely holds you back from doing something radical.
Americans have no sense of actual community. We’re so atomized and utterly disconnected from eachother that someone could drop dead in our own neighborhood and most of us wouldn’t even know that person’s name.
How the hell do you organize that?! No matter how much time you put into your organization, how do you grow anything on such salted soil?
It’s why the only meaningful organizing that’s happened recently, in my opinion, is the Minisoda/Minneapolis community defense organizations. We saw Americans nanage to run ICE forces out of their neighborhood, burn their vehicles, and seize their weapons. Yet, we didn’t see the mainstream Media say a peep about it.
That to me signals that the US regime found this organizational trend to be very concerning. I want other parts of the US to learn about that recent local shift, learn from it, and adopt its succesful methods. However the issue is that the conditions which bred such a response aren’t being applied to the rest of the US.
This is why I really don’t get mad about it. Not that it isn’t bad. But this is what an abusive relationship is like. I was in one and that’s exactly what I thought. I could stand up to them and yell and whatever and all they’d do is make it worse. I could stop them from hurting our animals and probably not end up doing anything besides get more hurt, or i could sit down and shut down. There are certainly things we can encourage abuse victims to do, and even be disappointed in if they do certain things, but it really doesn’t help to be angry about it
I think this is the most resonant analysis of the US mindset/conditions I’ve read to date. People tend to cover the “giving up” side a lot, the “not doing enough” side as well, and typically the conclusion drawn is that people are too comfortable and don’t care enough to rebel; but those other limited narratives don’t get at what you did, the rationale behind holding back because of the belief that the risk won’t actually pay off and that it will be for nothing.
As an example, we have people like Aaron Bushnell to look at in fear. This guy who martyred himself for Palestine and it was a blip of attention in a sea of spectacle. To the point you make about atomization, if most people in the US saw Aaron Bushnell as a brother, as family, they would not only have been aware of what he did, but been spurred to action. Instead, he’s “just a name.” Some people try to honor what he did, but they aren’t in military buildings, breaking things in them as a consequence for the military creating a world where one of its own would choose to do what he did.
People are conditioned instead to look at things like “I got mine”, or at most, “I got mine for me and my immediate family / circle of friends.” Minneapolis appears to be a situation where that attitude didn’t hold and people started seeing Minneapolis as one and ICE as outsider invaders.
As communists, we like to talk about building class consciousness and that does matter, but this train of thought makes me wonder if the more pressing consciousness is US people coming to understand the US state apparatus as like invaders. Substantively, it is like invaders for the indigenous population, since its inception. And the ramping up of policing/ICE/militarization/etc. may make the US state more like invaders for the general population as well. This is perhaps a reason why Minneapolis stands out.
The conditions are already coming, already there for some people, that the state is turning its conquering nature inwards, but people need to learn still to not scramble to get out of the way and hide, and instead find solidarity with the indigenous and their priorities; they are the ones who have known invasion for the longest time.
This feels a bit rambly, but anyway, great analysis, gets me thinking and is somewhat cathartic to have that feeling named, of wondering how worth it is, to risk.
As communists, we like to talk about building class consciousness and that does matter, but this train of thought makes me wonder if the more pressing consciousness is US people coming to understand the US state apparatus as like invaders.
That is class consciousness. Class consciousnesses is just the realization that the ruling class are a separate group from the workers and that they oppress us and they are the enemy.
Right, but in the case of a settler state, they are also an occupying force, which complicates it beyond bougie and worker, and that’s the part I’m trying to get at that’s important in the US context. In a way, it’s another angle of looking at the patsoc problem: where people view things as working class and elite, but their vision of better is the working class getting more of the imperial spoils. They haven’t internalized/accepted the state as an occupying entity and only see it as one that exploits the working class.
For comparison, current Russia is capitalist, but it is not “occupying Russia”: it’s local bourgeoisie ruling over local working class, but it’s native Russian forces carrying this out, not colonizers. In the US, it is both that and occupation, and the history of the US shows that when the local working class push for better without addressing the settler contradiction, it plays out as mild reforms that struggle to stick, usually at the expense of dumping the needs of a group on a lower rung.
