Iran: Threats, opposition and solidarity

international | anti-war / imperialism | other press Saturday February 18, 2012 15:11 by Yassamine Mathe

Yassamine Mather examines the current threats to Iran, the internal situation and discusses how the drive to War by the Imperialists should be opposed. Full text at url below.

In the last few weeks Iranians have woken up every day to news of further military threats and new sanctions. Anyone you contact in Iran will tell you how the constant media ‘analyses’ of if/when the bombing will start is affecting the national psyche, how morale is down, how the current situation is reminiscent of the terrible days of the Iran-Iraq war.

One Iranian blogger summarised the frustration of many Iranians when he lambasted callous statements by United States and Israeli officials debating the likely timing of air raids and military attacks against Iran. He wrote “These people discuss the timetable for bombing Iran as if they were deciding on dates for family holidays.”

The following headlines from the last couple of weeks, translated into Persian and broadcast daily to Iranian audiences, give a flavour of what he means:

“The US and Israel are publicly disagreeing over timing for a potential attack on Iran’s disputed nuclear facilities, as that nation’s leader said it won’t back down.”

“Obama: US and Israel ‘in lockstep’ to stop Iran becoming nuclear power.”

“US expects Israel to attack Iran.”

“United States Defence Secretary Leon Panetta believes there is a growing possibility Israel will attack Iran as early as April.”
“US admiral warns Iran: we are ready today.”

The first point to make is that, as far the US and its allies are concerned, the current threat of war/sanctions has little to do with Iran’s nuclear capabilities. Israel has made it clear that it will not tolerate further advances in Iran’s nuclear programme and a few months before the US presidential elections, pro-Israeli lobbies are busy exaggerating the threat of Iran’s nuclear programme. However, there are more significant factors pushing the US towards conflict with Iran. ...