Statement by the International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI) On Israel’s Bombardment of Iran and the Escalation of War

The bombardment of hundreds of sites across Iran — including numerous residential and civilian areas — by the Israeli regime is illegal, unacceptable, and must be unequivocally condemned. These attacks, carried out with the full support of the United States, Canada, and European allies, are not “preemptive strikes,” but rather acts of aggression within a broader imperialist war-mongering project. These bloody actions show no regard for civilian lives or the catastrophic consequences they carry for the more than 90 million people living in Iran.

We categorically oppose all forms of war and militarism in the region. As with every imperialist and reactionary war, it is the workers, women, children, youth, the elderly, and oppressed communities who pay the price with their lives and livelihoods. These devastating cycles of violence serve only the interests of imperialist powers and regional regimes who use war to justify interventionist policies, militarized capitalism, repression, and the consolidation of their power. Ordinary people — especially the working class — do not benefit from war, militarism, or foreign intervention; instead, their security, survival, livelihoods, and ability to organize around even their most basic rights are severely undermined. War also threatens — as has, unfortunately, already begun — widespread displacement within Iran, across neighboring countries, and around the world.

As exiled labour activists from Iran — many of us directly affected by the Iran-Iraq war, imprisonment, and repression — we are deeply concerned for the safety and well-being of our families, comrades, fellow workers, and fellow citizens. Our solidarity is with the people — not with ruling classes, greedy capitalists, or state agents. We continue to support the struggles of independent labour, feminist, student, and progressive movements of oppressed communities in Iran and the region, and we stand firmly against all far-right and pro-imperialist forces — including monarchists and other groups aligned with Western and Israeli military projects. These reactionary forces have openly celebrated criminals such as Netanyahu and Trump. They have opportunistically exploited the widespread discontent of people in Iran to justify Israel’s military attacks, revealing their fascistic, repressive, inhumane, and dangerous nature.

We regard U.S. imperialism and the Israeli regime — a colonial and apartheid state committing genocide against the people of Palestine — as common enemies of the working class and all oppressed people, from Gaza to Tehran. We express our full solidarity with the people and workers of Palestine who are resisting war and occupation and fighting for justice and liberation.

As emphasized in the recent joint statement by independent labour organizations in Iran, “The entirety of the global capitalist system, its profit-driven logic, and imperialist powers are the main causes of wars, human catastrophes, and environmental destruction.”

The experience of recent years has shown that military confrontation with imperialist forces — especially given their advanced military and nuclear capabilities, and in the absence of a powerful global bloc of anti-capitalist, socialist, and internationalist movements — results in the greatest harm to ordinary people in the Middle East. Confronting U.S. imperialism and its support for Israel is a vital task for labour, socialist, and liberation movements — particularly in the U.S., Canada, and Europe, the centers of the imperialist world.

We, as an anti-capitalist and socialist solidarity formation committed to workers’ struggles and rooted in the Iranian labour movement, are firmly opposed to the Islamic Republic of Iran — a capitalist, patriarchal, repressive, and anti-worker regime that for decades has been responsible for the brutal suppression of independent labour, feminist, socialist, communist, and justice-seeking activists and organizations. Many of these activists have been executed, imprisoned, exiled, or placed under surveillance, and many remain behind bars or are at risk of re-arrest. These justice-seeking movements — which staunchly oppose both war and economic sanctions, and constitute the only real force capable of confronting monarchist fascists — have been organizing for freedom and equality in Iran for decades, despite relentless state repression. They have never, and will never, under any circumstances, seek liberation through foreign intervention or military aggression by imperialist forces. They believe that only the self-organization and collective action of workers and oppressed peoples of Iran — independent of ruling classes, states, imperialist powers, and reactionary opposition forces — can bring about true liberation.

We call for an immediate halt to Israeli bombings and military attacks, and a ceasefire between the Israeli and Iranian governments. The escalating and destructive militarization of the region must be stopped.

Now, more than ever, we reaffirm our commitment to international working-class solidarity — grounded in anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, socialist, and anti-oppression principles. We call on all labour, socialist, feminist, anti-war, and progressive forces around the world to stand with the people and raise their voices against this new and dangerous cycle of war and destruction in the Middle East. We also urge workers’ organizations globally to take meaningful action — through public statements, protests, political pressure, arms embargoes, and active opposition to the war industries — to resist militarism and war in all its forms.

No to War!

Immediate Ceasefire!

Long Live International Working-Class Solidarity!

International Alliance in Support of Workers in Iran (IASWI)

June 17, 2025

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