
An Iranian Watches the Bombs Drop
The horror of Donald Trump’s war on Iran as experienced by an Iranian living in New York City.

The horror of Donald Trump’s war on Iran as experienced by an Iranian living in New York City.

Even as Israel attacks Iran and Lebanon, it is also intensifying ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. The military and settler militias are using a crisis Israel created as cover for its illegal takeover of the West Bank.

As the US-Israeli war machine embarks on a new adventure in Iran, it’s worth examining one of the key states facilitating this aggression. The United Arab Emirates has pioneered a militarized corporation-state at the center of our international disorder.

The US-Israel war with Iran has made energy prices soar across the globe. In a world increasingly dominated by imperial war and great-power conflicts, inflation will become an ordinary feature of politics.

In recent years, top defense contractors — backed by trillions in taxpayer dollars — have prioritized enriching shareholders over expanding production. As war spending surges, America’s biggest weapons manufacturers could funnel even more to investors.

As Donald Trump launches a dangerous war on Iran, understanding what really drives US imperial aggression is more urgent than ever. The 2003 invasion of Iraq, which many critics wrongly claim was about oil, offers an illuminating case study.

Israel’s war on Gaza has sent shock waves echoing throughout the Middle East. Mohamed Naeem, an Egyptian socialist activist, talks about the war’s impact and the way countries like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Iran are likely to respond.

Growing up in the south of Iran, our distraction from life was football, our passion was football, and our heroes were footballers. And it seemed at the time that our heroes were immortal. Rest in peace, Diego Maradona.

It’s not enough just to oppose this war on Iran. We should demand major cuts to the US military budget, starting with cutting it in half.

NATO chief Mark Rutte this week praised Donald Trump for talking tough to Iran and Israel, publicly commenting, “Daddy sometimes has to use strong language.” Rutte’s fawning is a cringeworthy display of European subservience to Trump.

Israeli politicians often paint themselves as allies of Kurdish freedom against Arab dictators. Yet today Israel is dropping the act, now that it sees Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa as a potential ally against Iran.

Donald Trump is proposing to increase the defense budget by nearly half to wage war on Iran. How does he want to pay for it? Cut nearly everything that might help average Americans, from food, housing, and education programs to health care and childcare.

While the Israeli attack on Iran dominates the headlines, Israel has been accelerating its campaign of mass killing in Gaza. Israeli soldiers have repeatedly gunned down people lining up for food as they stand on the brink of starvation.

After Iran’s leader was killed by a US air strike, pro-intervention media emphasized the celebration of many Iranians. But a nation of 90 million isn’t a hive mind, and the bitter experience of previous wars puts initial celebrations into grim perspective.

Not content with launching a costly and disastrous war on Iran, Trump has unveiled a new plan to pay for it by further slashing domestic programs that keep Americans economically afloat. His new 2027 budget document is effectively a political suicide note.

No one expected Joe Biden to rein in US empire. But after 100 days, he’s been terrible even on his own terms — failing to reenter the Iran nuclear deal, coddling authoritarian leaders like Mohammed bin Salman, and looking on as countries like India are pummeled by the COVID-19 crisis.

An exchange of air strikes between Iran and Pakistan put Balochistan on the global news agenda this month. Pakistan’s largest province is also its poorest, and the only way to establish peace there is by ending a long history of discrimination and repression.

The Venezuelan opposition has repeatedly failed to depose Nicolás Maduro. So now they’re launching a last-ditch effort to get Donald Trump to intervene — by tying Maduro to Iran and Hezbollah.

It’s not a conspiracy theory: Ronald Reagan secretly negotiated to keep the Iran hostages captive for an extended period to try to keep President Jimmy Carter from winning reelection.

Ireland’s taoiseach, Micheál Martin, will be paying homage to Donald Trump on St Patrick’s Day. Irish public opinion is strongly opposed to the US war on Iran and the Gaza genocide, but Martin and his allies are anxious to stay on Trump’s good side.