How Should the Left View Iran’s Resistance against Israel?
Understanding the conflict from a Marxist Perspective
For the past 20 months, Israel has been mercilessly killing Palestinians as the world livestreams a genocide. Over 54,000 deaths, including many children, have been reported. Israel's expansionism is not limited to Palestine but extends to other regions with its continued attacks on Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, escalating tensions across the Middle East.
Following Israel's large-scale airstrikes on Iran on June 12, 2025, targeting nuclear facilities, military sites, and key personnel, a new warzone has emerged. The operation, codenamed "Rising Lion," involved 200 Israeli fighter jets striking Iran's uranium enrichment sites, including Natanz and Fordo, and killing senior military officials and nuclear scientists, such as Revolutionary Guard commander Hossein Salami.
Iran retaliated on June 13-15, 2025, launching over 270 ballistic missiles and drones targeting Israeli military bases and cities like Tel Aviv and Haifa, resulting in significant damage. Israel continued its assaults, hitting Iran's oil and gas infrastructure, including the Shahran oil depot and South Pars gas field, killing 224 people, mostly civilians.
One question, however, emerges in the minds of people on the left: how to perceive this war. Iran has not had a good record when it comes to women's rights, due to which the progressive sections, who although oppose Israeli occupation of Palestine, often find themselves questioning their support for Iran. The critiques of Iran, however genuine, need to be contextualized.
Iran’s Historical Resistance to Imperialism
After the overthrow of the US-backed Shah rule in 1979, a new government was established following the Iranian Revolution, supported by a majority of Iranians in a referendum. The new government marked a rejection of Western imperialism, enabling Iran to resist US and Western control over its oil resources. Since then, Iran has been a staunch opponent of Western hegemony, supporting Palestinian resistance and groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon, positioning itself as a counterweight to Western imperialist interests in the region.
The Iranian government has since been subjected to attacks by these nations for being autocratic, anti-people, and anti-development. The very function of Israel, a proxy nation installed by the US and imperialists in the Middle East, is to keep in check the countries in the Middle East that do not align with the US. Following this, Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, has repeatedly accused Iran of developing nuclear weapons. With the charges of the country being autocratic and run by “mindless theocratic leaders,” Israel uses this accusation as its justification to call for attacks on Iran and to change its government.
Challenging Western Narratives
The narrative of Iran as a wholly autocratic state is steeped in Western propaganda and Islamophobia. It must be noted that while Iran’s laws on women are repressive, they face significant domestic resistance, with women groups and citizens actively challenging these policies. To perceive the country as wholly autocratic, where everyone simply hates women and supports such laws, is the Islamophobic view that the West has sold us. Every nation, to varying degrees, operates within patriarchal structures, and singling out Iran perpetuates a skewed perspective. Further, viewing Iran solely through the lens of its gender policies ignores its broader role in resisting imperialist forces.
Prioritizing the Anti-Imperialist Struggle
Despite the Western exaggeration, we cannot say that Iran is anywhere near an ideal state. The Communist Party of Iran (MLM) has continued to hold the Iranian state as a reactionary one. But this analysis is not static and is always in relation to the conditions. Even when there exist contradictions between the interests of the people of Iran and the State and the ruling class, there also exist multiple other contradictions, such as the contradiction between the Iranian people and Western imperialism. This contradiction is highly reflected in its current conflict with Israel.
The contradiction with imperialism is a primary one, as without the resolution of this contradiction, it would be impossible to resolve the contradiction between the Iranian ruling class and its people. Thus, the importance of Iran, and the support extended to Iran, is based on the fact that Iran stands as one of the strongest forces against the imperialist Zionist forces and therefore plays a key role in resolving this contradiction. This support does not necessarily mean endorsing all its policies.
Thus, at this juncture, Iran’s attack against Israel is not to be seen simply as an attack by one nation on another but as a dent to the imperialist system that poses itself as tall. We must also understand that this unprecedented rise in wars is a reflection of the global capitalist crisis that is rising every day. Because the capitalist class, despite being a declining force, refuses to let go of its control over society, preventing society from moving toward a higher stage, it makes society suffer through every ordeal for its profits.
A Call to Action for the Left
Today, children in Palestine are starving, desperate for a meal, while they are targeted and killed. Today, we find atrocities against the people, their displacement from their lands, to capture more and more resources. Today, there is a rise in fascist forces trying to crush the people who are raising questions about this crisis. Today is the time when we put up a fight against imperialism and not muddle our support with the confusions they wish to put in our minds. By focusing on the primary contradiction of imperialism, the left can support anti-imperialist struggles while continuing to advocate for internal reforms in countries like Iran.
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Really thoughtful piece. I think this kind of clarity is badly needed.
You don’t have to idealize Iran to understand that it plays a key role in resisting U.S. and Israeli domination of the region. That contradiction matters and it’s the one we have to prioritize.
The left does itself no favors when it treats every state outside the West as equally complicit. Not all power is empire. Not all resistance is reactionary.
There’s room for critique, but it should flow from a position of solidarity, not moral distance.
Well Written , Can you please write a part-2 in context of hezbollah?