With the US and Israeli attacks on Iran, the West Asia has entered a new and more dangerous phase of war. Regional tensions, reciprocal military moves, and threats of expansion show that the conflict will not be confined to two states, but could transform into a spiral of destruction engulfing all the peoples of the region. This new war front has not been started in the name of “democracy” or any other ethical goal. Anyone familiar with the history of imperialist interventions sees the self-serving interests hidden behind the rhetoric of “freedom”. The occupation operations carried out in Iraq and Afghanistan yesterday, and in other regions today under the same pretexts, are driven not by the interests of the people, but by the interests of capital. Every war leads to the death, maiming, displacement, and increasing impoverishment of millions of workers.
This reality, and our clear stance against the imperialist banditry of the US and Israel that has turned the region into hell for years, and finally against their latest attacks, does not mean that we side with the oppressive, murderous, and anti-labor regime in Iran. The Iranian state, which oppresses workers, women, and youth, and forcibly silences the opposition, cannot be defended on the grounds of being against imperialism. The freedom of peoples cannot depend on the military victory of any state. The situation we face today is not a clash of “good vs evil” between states, but rather an attempt to resolve the crisis within the capitalist system and the competition between capitalist powers through increasingly intense wars around the world. The global economic crisis, the struggle for dominance over energy and trade routes, and the arms race are increasing the possibilites of larger wars on a regional and even global scale.
All parties involved in imperialist wars of partition in the region and in different parts of the world act not for ethical reasons or consistent ideological principles, but in accordance with their interests. Both conflicts and collaborations are driven by the interests of their respective ruling classes. This is the underlying reason why the Turkish capitalist class and the AKP-MHP government, which serves the interests of the capitalist class, simultaneously make anti-Israel statements while maintaining trade relations with Israel. The Turkish state, in line with these same interests, tries to appear pro-peace while simultaneously becoming part of the regional war through military collaborations conducted via the NATO base in Kürecik. Hosting the NATO summit on July 7-8, 2026, amidst the new imperialist agenda and deepening conflict in the region, is also an indication of this position.
For workers, in this struggle for dominance, which means war, destruction, and more poverty, there is no path to choose or side to stand with. The resurgence of favouritism within the left risks co-opting the working class into one of the capitalist camps. History has shown that when workers support the wars of their masters, they are never the winners. In World War I, while millions of workers slaughtered each other, the real winner was the capitalist class. A similar scenario is unfolding today.
In the name of anti-imperialism, siding with a state that is an extension of another imperialist block only serves to bind the working class more tightly in its own chains. Defending the international struggle of the working class is not a “third way,” but the only independent and revolutionary class path. The only force capable of stopping the war that has begun today, as well as other wars arising from capitalist division, is the unity and organized struggle of workers, who are being pitted against each other, around their common class interests.
What needs to be done today is to strengthen workers’ organizations in workplaces in every country against the exploitative and war policies of their ruling classes and their states, which feed off each other; to oppose the increase in military production and war budgets at the cost of our further impoverishment; to spread internationalist consciousness against the poison of nationalism; and to grow class solidarity across borders.
Today, workers in Iran, Turkey, the USA, Europe, and everywhere in the world face similar crises, similar impoverishment, and insecurity. They are exploited by the same system and called upon to die for the same order. We cannot see either the oppressive regime in Iran or the states representing the imperialist block led by the USA and Israel as our future. Each is a different faces of the capitalist order in crisis. Every day they produce more exploitation, more war, and more destruction. Our task today is not to be content with passive resistance to war; it is to confront the class order that makes war possible. We say no to both the war and the peace of capitalism, because both are a continuation of exploitation. The choice for the working class is clear: either a social revolution that will fundamentally change this system, or annihilation within capitalism, which promises us nothing but exploitation, war, and destruction.
No War But Class War!
For a Classless, Borderless, Free World!
Autonomous Workers’ Associations
Karga Collective
