by Monica Moorehead, published on Workers World, March 10, 2026
March 9 – What a difference a week can make in the unprecedented struggle against imperialism!
Just nine days ago, in the midst of “peace” negotiations between the U.S. and the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Trump regime carried out a terrorist missile attack, resulting in the massacre of almost 200 girls and teachers at a school in Minab, located in southern Iran, on Feb. 28. This attack was carried out without any Congressional authorization.
After the U.S. falsely accused the Iranian government of this heinous attack on the school, the corporate media officially confirmed what the majority of the world already knew — that the U.S. unilaterally carried out this attack. The school wasn’t bombed just once but twice. The second bomb exploded as first responders arrived, proving that the cold-blooded attack was calculated. (Reuters, March 5)
And if this wasn’t already a horrific war crime, also on Feb. 28, the U.S. and the Zionist State of Israel assassinated Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and his family members, along with dozens of Iran’s top military leaders in another missile attack. Not only was Khamenei the beloved leader of the Iranian nation, but he was viewed as a respected leader of the Muslim world.
On March 8, his son, Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, was elected by an Assembly of Experts as the new Supreme Leader of Iran.
With these two major attacks, the U.S. and Israel torpedoed the negotiation process by declaring war on Iran, with the objective of regime change for the country of over 90 million people, as well as the theft of Iran’s rich oil resources. Both of these heinous, cowardly attacks, however, would prove to be a catastrophic miscalculation for the imperialists.
Iranians had a response, rightfully stating that they have the right to self-defense, citing Article 51 under the United Nations Charter, which recognizes the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a U.N. member. Put succinctly, Iran was defending its right to sovereignty and independence from imperialist and colonial domination.
Iran began immediately targeting U.S. military bases located in West Asia, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates (UAE). All of these feudal monarchies have been outposts for the geopolitical interests of U.S. imperialism for decades but some are now questioning why the U.S. decided to attack Iran.
The emir of Bahrain, Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, has officially fled the country following a week-long uprising of the long-suffering Bahraini people, who hate both Israel and the U.S.
Iran also targeted strategic military outposts, defense installations and other vital economic arteries in Tel Aviv (in occupied Palestine), causing major damage and destruction.
With blocks of Tel Aviv reminiscent of war-torn Gaza, it is estimated that between 1 million and 2 million panic-stricken Israeli settlers swiftly departed, fleeing to other countries, proving once again that this land was never theirs to begin with. The Iranian government gave ample warning to the Israelis to leave or risk losing their lives.
This theft of Palestinian land has been true even before the official founding of the state of Israel in 1948 which led to the systemic genocide and mass displacement of the indigenous population.
Iran is not alone
Other members of the Axis of Resistance, formed in solidarity with the Palestinian Resistance in Gaza, have worked hand-in-hand with Iran to fight the U.S. and Israel.
The Iraqi Resistance caused major damage to U.S. bases in Erbil, the capital of the Kurdistan Region of northern Iraq. They also set fire to oil facilities belonging to Halliburton, one of the world’s largest oilfield service companies, that has been an integral part of the U.S. occupation there since the U.S. war on Iraq in the early 1990s.
The armed wing of Hezbollah, a political party based in Lebanon, has heroically been fighting the ground troops of the Israel Occupation Forces, forcing Zionists to flee illegal settlements in occupied Palestine, fearing retribution for atrocities carried out against Lebanese civilians. Yemen has demonstrated its solidarity with Iran by monitoring and attacking any ships in the Red Sea that are connected to the U.S. or Israel.
China and Russia are playing supportive roles by extending their political solidarity and providing military weaponry and intelligence to Iran.
Other governments like Burkina Faso, North Korea and Sudan have offered to send military assistance to Iran out of solidarity.
More U.S./Israeli war crimes
Once it became crystal clear that the U.S. and Israel had underestimated the military capabilities and resilience of the Iranian armed forces, on March 7 the U.S. and Israel struck a major freshwater desalination plant on Iran’s Qeshm Island, causing potable water to be shut off to 30 villages. A hundred million people in the Gulf Region depend on desalination to purify their drinking water. In response, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, stated, “The U.S. set this precedent, not Iran.” Iran bombed Bahrain’s desalination plant in retaliation.
Thirty of Iran’s oil refineries were bombed on March 6, causing oil to fall from the sky like rain and then flow in the streets and sewers, resulting in a toxic environmental disaster.
The U.S. Navy murdered over 100 Iranian sailors and wounded over 30 when it attacked the unarmed IRIS Dena submarine destroyer on March 4, returning from a naval exercise organized by the Indian government that the U.S. had declined an invitation to participate in.
According to the Iranian-based Press TV, since Feb. 28, over 1,200 Iranian civilians have been killed and over 10,000 wounded. Children have made up 30% of the fatalities. Twenty-five hospitals have been damaged with nine completely destroyed along with 14 ambulances.
‘We are a brave nation’
When Foreign Minister Araghchi was asked on NBC’s Meet the Press on March 8 about Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu asking Iran for a ceasefire, he replied: “They are calling for a ceasefire again, this will not happen. There must be a permanent end to the war, and until we reach this stage, I think we need to continue fighting for the security of our people.”
And when asked about Trump possibly sending U.S. ground troops to Iran, Araghchi stated: “We have very brave soldiers who are waiting for any enemy that makes the mistake of entering our territory. They will fight it, destroy it and kill it. This will happen in the coming days, this will happen in the coming years, and this will always be the case in Iran. We are a brave nation. We have a great civilization.
For thousands of years, we have defended our land, and we will continue this defense for as long as it takes.”
What’s at stake?
By assassinating Iran’s Supreme Leader and massacring school children, the U.S. and Israel arrogantly thought that the Iranians could be terrorized into surrendering. But just the opposite has happened on the political, military and economic fronts. Millions of people in the Global South – and even many in the Global North – have come out into the streets to show solidarity with Iran, further isolating the U.S. and Israel on a global scale. Iranians living abroad are seeking to return to their homeland to help defend their country.
Shipping has been unable to use the Strait of Hormuz for any oil and gas exports due to seven insurance companies unwilling to pay the high costs of guaranteeing safe passage. Twenty percent of the world’s oil and natural gas exports depend on this strait. Gas prices have risen to $4 a gallon in the U.S. and could rise even more in the coming days and weeks. The longer the war goes on, the more fear of major disruptions in global energy markets grows.
Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Dr. Ali Larijani reported that members of the U.S. special forces have been taken into custody. And contrary to corporate media reports that only seven U.S. soldiers have died since Feb. 28, Iranian officials state that over 170 U.S. soldiers have either died or been wounded. (The Cradle, March 8)
The majority of the U.S. population is opposed to seeing soldiers die in a war for empire. What is needed is funding for jobs, housing, education, food and other human needs, not bombing, killing and occupation.
This is an imperialist war imposed on Iran by two terrorist administrations that seek a new form of colonial rule of the most powerful, formidable country in the Gulf region. But the Iranian people — forced to endure decades of harsh U.S. sanctions and other forms of aggression as punishment for their 1979 Revolution — refuse to be intimidated and resubjugated under foreign rule ever again.
The people of Iran are not the enemy. U.S. imperialism is the real enemy.
*Featured Image: Iranians celebrate election of new Supreme Leader, Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, in Tehran’s Enqelab Square, March 9, 2025. (Credit: Press TV)