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The Weekly paper of the New Communist Party of Britain

Imperialists lash out but Iran hits back!

by our Arab Affairs correspondent

Iranian drone and missile strikes on Israel and the feudal Arab states that do America’s bidding continue round the clock while the attacks on energy facilities have sent the price of oil and gas soaring throughout the Western world. The Americans and Israelis are continuing their deadly air-raids on Iran – hitting oil and gas complexes and targeting religious and political leaders in an increasingly futile bid to force the Iranians to beg for mercy while the Islamic Republic pays them back in their own coin with deadly effect.

In Tel Aviv, Benjamin Netanyahu told the media that “we are winning and Iran is being decimated”, but reality tells another story. The American and Israeli war-planes may have mastery of the skies but they’ve lost control of the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea. Their much-vaunted nuclear aircraft-carriers have been withdrawn. The Abraham Lincoln limped away after it was repeatedly hit by Iranian missiles in the Gulf and the Gerald R Ford was withdrawn following a mysterious fire that took over 30 hours to contain that some say was sabotage by dissident crew members. The Straits of Hormuz, the only maritime passage out of the Gulf and the route for about a quarter of the world’s liquefied natural gas and seaborne trade, is closed to all but Chinese, Indian and Russian vessels.

The Israeli ‘Iron Dome’ can’t stop Iran’s rockets. Iranian missiles are pounding Tel Aviv and strategic targets throughout the Zionist entity. Ben Gurion airport, Israel’s main air-line hub, is closed after coming under repeated Iranian attack and the rail network paralysed after the main rail hub in Tel Aviv was knocked out.

According to official Iranian data, at least 1,348 civilians have been killed and more than 17,000 people injured. But 22 Israelis have also died and nearly 4,000 have been wounded in the conflict. The Americans admit to 15 dead and some 200 injured. They’ve also lost 23 war-planes – some put down to “friendly fire” and “accidents”.

Last week Trump got no takers for his call for an “international” naval force to end the Iranian blockade. In a rant on social media he called NATO a “paper tiger”, accusing his allies of refusing to join the military campaign against Iran. He said that European members now complain about high oil prices but “don’t want to help open the Strait of Hormuz”, calling them “cowards” and warning that “we will remember”.

But Prof Fyodor Lukyanov, an expert on international affairs, told RT that: “Washington now expects its allies to help solve a crisis that it itself helped create and does not entirely know how to resolve. President Donald Trump and his administration have suggested that their European and Asian partners should deploy naval forces to the Strait of Hormuz to ensure freedom of navigation. In practice, this means asking them to protect Imperialists lash out but Iran hits back! their own energy supplies after those supplies were jeopardised by the US-Israeli attack on Iran.

“Tehran had repeatedly warned that it might attempt to close the strait if attacked. Washington and Tel Aviv dismissed these threats. They assumed Iran would not dare, or would not be able, to act. They were mistaken.

“Now European NATO members, along with Canada, Japan, south Korea and Australia, face a difficult choice. They can join an escalating military confrontation that they did not initiate, risking casualties and further destabilisation. Or they can resist the wishes of their principal ally. For now, most appear to be choosing the latter.”