Iran did what it had to
Featured image: A crater is seen in a road – an example of the effects of an Iranian ballistic missile strike on April 14, 2024; source: The Times of Israel
Yesterday, Iran launched around 350 projectiles against the State of Israel, including 185 drones, 120 ballistic rockets, and more than 35 cruise missiles. Also attacks were launched from its allied forces in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen. The State of Israel has reportedly intercepted most of the projectiles with the support of Yankee, British and French imperialism, in addition to the lackey regimes in Jordan and Saudi Arabia. According to the very statements of the Israeli military spokespersons the support from the imperialists has been crucial in deteriorating most of the projectiles. Particularly the role of the French air defense system in Jordan has been highlighted. This is of particular importance, because the attack of the Iranian Armed Forces was not only done in a form that allowed the Israelis to prepare for the attack – the projectiles launched from Iran had a flight time of up to six hours, in this context almost an eternity –, but as stated by different sources Iran informed the Yankees about the attack via indirect channels, which even allowed Biden to interrupt his weekend at the countryside and travel to the White House. This proves that the air defense capacities of Israel, which the western imperialists and the Israelis celebrated, cannot function without the integrated system of the most sophisticated air defense system of its imperialist masters.
After these attacks Major General Mohammad Bagheri, Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, stated that Iran has no intention of continuing the operation against Israel, and the operation has been concluded.
Iranian authorities explained it as an act of exercising its right of Self-Defense under Article 51 of the UN-Charter and a response to the Israeli armed attack on 1st of April 2024 against the Iranian embassy in Syria, violating Article 2 of the UN-Charter and international law. The series of military strikes on Israeli military sites did not intend to hit civilian infrastructure.
These simple facts reveal the character of the attack as being primarily a signal of the change in the tactics of the Iranian state to counter the continuous Israeli aggression. The attack of 1st of April carried out by the Israeli Armed Forces, against the diplomatic premises of Iran in Damascus, which killed 12 persons, among them 2 Iranian generals, brought the level of Israeli aggression to a new level. Since these premises, according to above mentioned international law, are considered as Iranian territory, it was accordingly an act of war of aggression against a sovereign State. Until now the murderous attacks of the Israelis against Iran soil have taken mostly the form of selective annihilation and sabotage in a covert terrorist style (previously Israel have launched airstrikes against Iranian nuclear facilities). What the Iranian regime now is doing is that they respond in a way Chairman Mao would have called ‘tit for tat’. Which is a just approach in these matters.
The first direct military attack ever Iran has launched against Israel is a demarcation line Iran had to draw after the attack on its diplomatic premises in Damascus. One aspect that should be clearly underscored, since the Iranian regime tried to use the righteous resistance of the people of Palestine for its own purchase of its own State interests, is that this measure of the Iranian Armed Forces took place only after the direct Israeli aggression against the very State of Iran and not as a direct response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine. Of course the Iranian regime might do some things in support of the National Resistance Front in Palestine, but this very clearly shows that it only goes to war when its own State interests are directly effected – a very different attitude to that shown by the Yemenite Arabic patriots.
It is reported that via back-channel communications with the US over the past two weeks, Iran indicated it would retaliate, but wanted to avoid an escalation. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said in the statement: “We do not seek conflict with Iran …” Hence, he acknowledged the character of the Iranian actions.
The same kind is the non-decision of the war-cabinet of Israel. Speaking at an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council on Sunday evening, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Gilad Erdan, called for the body to condemn Iran, reimpose sanctions and designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard a terror organization.
Russian Foreign Ministry urged all sides to show restraint. It said that they “are counting on the regional states to solve the existing problems with political and diplomatic means” and expressed “extreme concern over the latest dangerous escalation in the region.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry stated that, “China expresses deep concern over the current escalation” and called upon the “relevant parties” to restrain from “further escalations.”
The United Kingdom, France and Germany urged Israel on Monday not to retaliate against Iran. “The UK has advised Israel that it would be better off not retaliating”, British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said. France, too, has been offering advice to Israel, suggesting a policy of isolation rather than one of retaliation, French President Emmanuel Macron stated, adding “We will do everything to avoid a conflagration.” German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock told at a conference in Paris that Israel must now secure its victory with diplomatic means. “Now we must prevent an escalation in the region,” Baerbock added.
The plan of the Iranian regime went well. No one, on no side, takes the military actions conducted by Iran against Israel as an official declaration of all-out-war, so one should not get fooled by the trumpets and sirens in the mainstream media.
It is also shown by this development that today none of the imperialists is willing to escalate the conflict in the region further, scared of the possibility of a prairie-fire out of their control, because none of them is convinced to be victorious and they all do fear the masses. This again shows that they are paper tigers. The immediate future development depends primarily on what decisions the war-mongers in Tel Aviv take.
