Iran’s Victory Will Change Our Lives

They are fighting the same Empire that robs us blind and kills our world.

Tehran before the war Photo by Fatemeh Momtaz on Unsplash

Some United States elites and Israel supporters are screaming against Trump’s proposed memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran. They call it surrender, what Zionist podcaster Ben Shapiro called “a big Loss for America.”

In reality, if this deal goes through, it will be a major victory for the American people. Iran stood up to the US/Israel billionaire class, the same group driving us deeper into debt-ridden fascism, killing people all over the world, and laying waste to our land and water. Iran beat them, and we should be celebrating. We should be following their example.

This war has changed the United States’ place in the world. The US has been bullying the world for decades with sanctions and asset seizures, invasions and covert operations, and all this bullying has made us more isolated and poorer. In recent press conferences and interviews, President Trump seems to be saying the Iran deal represents a much-needed change.

Trump and Vice President JD Vance are distancing the US from Israel verbally. In one statement, Trump spoke about how Israel’s destruction of Lebanon was counterproductive and needs to stop. He said, “You don’t have to knock down a whole apartment building to get one man.” Distancing from Israel would be a sea change in American foreign policy. If these changes move beyond words to become actions, Americans and the whole world will be much better off.

The terms of the MOU were extremely favorable to Iran and completely justified under international law. Trump asked, “Why can’t Iran have missiles when its neighbors have them?” Why does nuclear-armed Israel “have a right to defend itself,” while Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine don’t? In other words, he repeated all the points antiwar people have been making for years.

The pushback from politicians, the military-industrial complex (MIC) and Israel –backers has been loud, intense, and prolonged. They will try to keep these changes from happening. We need to take Iran’s side in this fight and do what we can to help them win.

Ways Iran’s win is good for Americans

Shrinking the chain of bases

When US/Israel started bombing them, Iran did not hit them back right away. Instead, they went after US bases and radars in the Persian Gulf states. According to a 2010 study in Science Direct, those bases were costing hundreds of billions of dollars to maintain and operate. And that was in a time of relative peace.

Now those bases are out of operation, and that money can be used for better things. All they were doing was propping up corrupt Gulf monarchs and protecting Israel. The idea was to keep oil prices artificially low and increase oil company profits. We will be so much better off when tax money is spent on our own needs.

If the people can apply enough political will, bases could be closed all over the world. There are over 800 such US bases in various countries, hosting almost 100,000 soldiers, according to World Without War. The rest of the world combined has about 250 foreign bases. China has just one. Most US bases serve to protect corrupt US-friendly governments and enrich the MIC. We could save up to a half=trillion dollars a year by closing them. Iran has started the process. It’s up to us to continue it.

Breaking up the US/Israel alliance

The worst geopolitical thing that has existed in my lifetime is the alliance between the US and Israel. Their relationship has consistently grown closer over the years, until it’s difficult to tell where one government stops and the other starts.

In July 2024, Israeli PM Netanyhu got over 45 standing ovations in one speech before Congress, a speech in which he excoriated the US president and demanded a US war against Iran. President Nixon’s speechwriter Pat Buchanan said “Congress is Israeli-occupied territory.” The America-Israel Public Affair Committee (AIPAC[) sponsors about 80 % of US Congressional](https://www.trackaipac.com/) representatives and senators. They routinely recruit, fund and promote candidates to unseat incumbents who criticize Israel.

Even more significant is Israel’s connection with the MIC This alliance is a source of immense power in a country like the US, which is economically dominated by its military. For decades now, Israel has gotten the US to support or fight its wars, each one more destructive than the last. The two imperial powers amplify each other’s worst instincts.

The defeat in Iran may have reversed that trend. This is a good thing. Americans won’t be dying in or paying for cruel, pointless wars.

US can stop being the evil empire

It is so stressful and anxiety-provoking to live in a country like ours that bombs fishing boats, starves people with sanctions, and overthrows governments. I hate not being able to feel good about my country and being hated by the rest of the world. Although Pew Research found that about 50% of the world still thinks favorably of Americans, the American travelers I know disagree. They report more hostility from people they meet, and some have taken to telling natives they’re Canadian.

Wouldn’t life be better if we weren’t living in an evil empire and didn’t have so much blood on our hands?

US militarism is destroying our planet

Journalist Abby Martin just released a film called Earth’s Greatest Enemy, in which she describes the massive environmental damage caused by the US military. The armed forces burn 270,000 barrels of oil every day. Over 100 US military bases are Superfund sites, meaning they are too polluted to clean up without massive intervention. And that doesn’t count the environmental destruction at all those foreign bases, where there is no Superfund, or the destruction caused when our bombs start falling.

The military cares nothing for the human, animal, and plant life they poison and destroy. It’s all collateral damage necessary for national security, meaning for MIC profits. Their sonar deafens whales, their shelling kills endangered marine life for target practice.

Israel’s wars are even worse environmentally. Look at any video from war zones in Palestine, Syria, Lebanon or Yemen. All you will see is desert and ruined buildings. All wars are wars against Nature on some level.

If the world is to survive, this mindless militarism has to stop, and Iran has shown the world the limits of US/Israel military power. As Vice President Vance told Israeli leaders, “You can’t kill your way out of every problem.” This defeat could lead to major changes. If we take advantage of the opportunity, it could save us.

Socialism and War

A post-Iran transformation wouldn’t be the first time a defeat in war has positively reshaped a society. World War 1 led to the Russian revolution, and World War 2 set the stage for China’s revolution. Both were very hard for their people but freed them from colonial domination and in the end, enabled them to thrive as they are today.

Taking Iran’s side is not treasonous. It is class loyalty. As Russian revolutionary Vladimir Lenin wrote in 1920, the real treason would be supporting our class enemy’s wars.

Lenin wrote that war is horrible, but it can lead to a better world if an oppressing class is brought down by it. Revolutionaries oppose war but can take advantage of imperial wars, because the wars weaken their rulers. In Socialism and War Lenin called imperialist war a “crisis of capitalism” and called for the working class to turn these conflicts into civil wars to overthrow their ruling classes. He urged workers to reject national patriotism, refuse to fight for “their own” rulers’ interests, and redirect their violence toward dismantling the capitalist system.

Lenin said workers should always take the side of the colony or weaker nation, never the side of the oppressor. Speaking of the colonies of his time, he wrote, “If Morocco were to declare war on France, or India on England, those would be ‘just,’ ‘defensive’ wars, irrespective of who attacked first. Every Socialist would sympathize with the victory of the oppressed, dependent, unequal states against the oppressing, slave-owning, predatory ‘great powers.’” The Hamas attack of October2023 is an example of that. It was defense against decades of oppressor violence. You can see the world pulling for the unequal state against the great powers in the present war.

What happens next?

This war is far from over. Within a day after the signing, Israel intensified its bombing of southern Lebanon, and the US didn’t stop them. Israel is totally opposed to peace. They want to turn Iran into a failed state like Libya, and conquer as much of Lebanon as they can resettle with Jews. They have openly said so.

Israel or the US could still decide to nuke Iran. Having abandoned their constitutional power to vote on war in the first place, many US Democrats and Republicans now reject Trump’s MOU and demand their right to vote against peace. The MIC and the Israel lobby will pull all their strings to keep the war going. We are now in the bizarre position of hoping Trump succeeds.

But hoping, or supporting Trump will not make big changes happen. We need to organize and fight the billionaire class, the Epstein class, or whatever you want to call them. Iran has opened the door, but we have to walk through it.

Realistically, we have no revolutionary movement in the US like Lenin’s in Russia or Mao’s in China, and it’s hard to see where one would come from. Although some people are trying, it seems to me the best we can do is support forces in the world, such as China and Iran, who do have the power to challenge US dominance. Keep supporting indigenous and African-American movements for self-determination here. Organize your community. Keep throwing sand in the gears of the war machine, however you can.

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