U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal: 6 Points of Orientation

July 20, 2015 | Revolution Newspaper | revcom.us

A major agreement, years in the making, was signed between the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the U.S. and other world powers (France, Britain, Germany, China, and Russia), on Tuesday, July 14. This deal focuses on scaling back and limiting Iran’s nuclear enrichment and technology programs in return for lifting UN, U.S., and European Union economic sanctions on Iran. This deal represents a significant strategic move by the U.S., Iran, and other world powers, and it has the potential to have big regional and global ramifications, although it is far from certain how this will play out.

See "U.S.-Iran Nuclear Deal: Major Move by Reactionary Powers...Nothing Good for the People," but here are some basic points of orientation for understanding and acting in relation to this major event:

1. President Obama says this deal will prevent war and stop the spread of nuclear weapons. But this deal is not about ending the danger of nuclear weapons or nuclear conflict, nor will it do so. Iran has no nuclear weapons. If Iran did develop nuclear weapons, that would be highly destabilizing in the Middle East in ways the U.S. and its allies, including Israel, do not want to see happen. And it is not in the interests of the people of the world for any country to have nuclear weapons. But if you’re looking for who poses the big danger of nuclear terror, the U.S. imperialists have thousands of nuclear weapons, and their close ally Israel has hundreds that it has refused to submit to any international inspection and control. Both have repeatedly declared their right to use military force anywhere they see fit to do so. So who, once again, is the biggest nuclear threat on Earth?

2. Under the terms of this deal, Iran will reportedly make major cuts and changes to its nuclear program (reducing its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent, cutting by two-thirds the number of centrifuges for enriching uranium it is operating, and restructuring key reactors). Iran is also submitting to 24/7 inspections of its nuclear sites, and possibly other military and research sites—inspections no U.S. political figure would ever agree to if applied to the U.S. nuclear program! In return, some of the key sanctions on Iran will be lifted when it complies with these terms, and Obama claims sanctions can be "snapped back" into place if the U.S. and its allies decide Iran has violated the agreement. The Islamic Republic of Iran also receives a level of recognition of its legitimacy, with the door open to more cooperation and co-ordination between a reactionary superpower and a reactionary regional power where they have common interests, in the region and perhaps beyond. This deal is driven by the deep necessities each side faces. For the U.S., the mounting difficulties it faces in the Middle East are framed and shaped by serious global challenges from big-power rivals. For the prevailing section of the Islamic fundamentalist rulers of Iran, the deal is seen as a way to ease economic crisis and social discontent, and advance aspirations to be a bigger regional oppressive power.

3. The economic sanctions by the U.S., United Nations and European Union against Iran were never simply aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear program; they were intended to create suffering and discontent among the Iranian people in order to weaken and possibly destabilize the Iranian regime. Sanctions crippled Iran’s economy, triggering massive unemployment, and cutting off vitally needed imports, including food and medicines, have had devastating impacts. Iran is a country of 80 million, and many millions have been severely harmed by sanctions. Untold hundreds, perhaps thousands, have died. Targeting a civilian population constitutes collective punishment and a crime against humanity. This is what imperialist “diplomacy” looks like.

4. Virulent objections are being raised to this deal by ruling class forces in both the U.S. and Iran, as well as in Israel. An analysis of the different arguments by different factions of these ruling classes is beyond the scope of these orientation notes, but it does seem that these differences over the nuclear agreement interpenetrate with sharp conflicts within the U.S. and Iranian political establishments over a whole range of issues. (Regarding the U.S., see Bob Avakian, The Coming Civil War and Repolarization for Revolution in the Present Era)

5. There is nothing good for humanity anywhere in this deal. It is not about ending suffering, deprivation, conflict and wars in the region or globally. Instead, it’s an attempt by the U.S., Iran and other world powers to maintain the political-economic order responsible for the horrendous tidal wave of death and suffering that is cascading over North Africa and the Middle East: global capitalism, as well as reactionary Islamic fundamentalism as embodied in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

6. Developments in the Middle East and elsewhere show that the U.S. and Iranian rulers are not all powerful. Their grand designs have backfired, and they’re in deep trouble and have no fundamental solutions to the horrors they’ve created. Communist revolution is the only way out of this madness, and it is urgent to make revolution at the soonest possible moment and to fight for revolution everywhere by spreading Bob Avakian’s new synthesis of communism, encapsulated in COMMUNISM: THE BEGINNING OF A NEW STAGE A Manifesto from the Revolutionary Communist Party (available in seven languages), and revcom.us worldwide to bring forward another liberating pole for humanity. There are vanguard communist parties in both countries working for real revolution: the Revolutionary Communist Party, USA and the Communist Party of Iran (Marxist-Leninist-Maoist). Making revolution is a serious and difficult challenge, but it is possible and the only REAL way to break out of the “alternatives” presented by the rulers of the U.S. or the Islamic Republic of Iran.

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