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June 17, 2025We hereby share a statement published by the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of Turkey/Marxist-Leninist (TKP/ML) that we have received.
In the early hours of June 13, 2025, Zionist Israel carried out a large-scale attack against Iran. The strike targeted high-ranking military officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran, killing 20 military experts and officials, including the Chiefs of the General Staff and the Revolutionary Guards. This assault occurred just before the sixth round of nuclear negotiations between the United States and Iran, scheduled for June 15. The attack was conducted with intelligence operations and aerial support within Iranian territory. In response, Iran launched missile attacks against Israel on the same evening. Zionist Israel continues its campaign against top state bureaucracy and is expanding its offensive to include nuclear facilities, weapons depots, fuel reserves, airports, and, inevitably, civilian areas. Iran, in turn, is retaliating by launching ballistic missiles at Haifa, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and several other cities. Zionist Israel is facing one of the most intense and harsh military responses in its history.
As the bloody dagger of U.S. imperialism in the region, Zionist Israel has become the main instigator of regional war since the Al-Aqsa Operation initiated by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, 2023. While destroying Gaza and the rest of Palestine, killing tens of thousands, Israel extended its attacks to Lebanon and openly declared its future targets to include Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and Iran. The Abraham Accords and the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor Agreement signed in September 2023 have nailed the coffin of the Palestinian cause. The Al-Aqsa Flood resistance has disrupted the military-political-economic equilibrium that these agreements aimed to establish. This resistance has pushed U.S. and British imperialism, along with Zionist Israel, toward a much more aggressive posture. Since October 7, 2023, U.S. imperialism and Zionist Israel have been attempting to eliminate all forces resisting their interests. This policy of destruction and neutralization continues unabated.
Imperialists have identified national liberation struggles in Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, and Turkey as obstacles to be eliminated-either by force or by consent. This approach is by no means limited to the Middle East. It spans from India to North Africa. In these regions, all resistance movements-whether coerced (like the CPI(Maoist), Hamas, Hezbollah) or co-opted (like the PKK)-are marked for liquidation.
In addition, states that do not align with the economic and political interests of U.S. imperialism are also targeted. At the root of this lies the fierce competition among imperialist powers. As contradictions between them sharpen and the struggle for global hegemony intensifies, the tolerance once shown to some states is being withdrawn. New opportunities are exploited, and regional wars are now considered acceptable options. Syria was the first experiment in this process. It was captured and handed over to the reactionary forces of HTS and its warlord, Al-Jolani. It is now openly stated that Iraq, Yemen, and Iran are next. Zionist Israel has publicly defined these countries as “existential threats” and acts as the battering ram of U.S. efforts to restructure the region.
Zionist Israel has become increasingly operationalized to secure the regional hegemony of U.S. imperialism. This recent attack could not have been carried out without U.S. knowledge and coordination. As diplomatic negotiations between the U.S. and Russia stagnate under Trump’s “peace theater,” the response has come via Israeli aggression. Among the political goals of this process is the redrawing of regional borders and even the potential transformation of certain states-especially Iran.
Zionist Israel has now launched a campaign-clearly planned through long-term intelligence gathering and internal positioning-to cripple the Iranian state and its military wing. The campaign began with the targeted assassination of top-level command and continues in the same manner. Iran has proven unable to protect its cadre or adequately prepare for such attacks. Zionist military power now enjoys superiority inside Iran’s borders and in its airspace.
The crucial question now is whether this aggression will escalate into full-scale war between the two states. Iran has previously responded to similar attacks with “measured” retaliation. Its missile responses have typically been calculated to avoid all-out war. The missile attack in response to the June 13 assault was significantly stronger than previous reactions, yet still carefully measured. Iran has not yet deployed its full military capacity. The myth of Israeli invincibility, which was first cracked by the October 7 Al-Aqsa Flood, continues to bleed under Iranian missile strikes.
Zionist Israel, whose very existence is built on the occupation of Palestine and the destruction of the Palestinian people, has added its recent aggression against Iran and the Iranian people to its long criminal record. Israel has crystallized its hostility not only toward the Palestinian nation but also toward all the peoples of the region. It now plays the most aggressive and destructive role in shaping the region’s political future.
Nevertheless, the Islamic Republic of Iran is itself a regional reactionary power-oppressive, exploitative, and aggressive toward its own people, oppressed nations within its borders, and regional populations. Despite its deep contradictions with Western imperialism led by the U.S., it functions as a semi-colony of Russian and Chinese imperialism. Iran’s foreign policy is not grounded in principled or consistent anti-imperialism. The so-called “Axis of Resistance” is an extension of Iran’s own geopolitical interests and the bloc of imperialist powers to which it is aligned. Its signature move is to mask its internal repression and national oppression behind a façade of anti-U.S. rhetoric. This reactionary reality, however, does not negate the fact that Iran is under attack by Zionism and U.S. imperialism.
Therefore, communists, revolutionaries, and all progressive forces must clearly expose and condemn the warmongering and aggression of Zionist Israel and U.S. imperialism. Our focus must be sharply aimed at these actors as the principal instigators of war. The current situation is the direct result of the aggressive trajectory that Zionism and U.S. imperialism have been pursuing throughout the region. The mission of initiating and escalating regional and imperialist wars has been outsourced to Israel, and it is executing this role to the letter.
In this conflict, Iran finds itself on the defensive, yet this does not mean it represents a just or progressive position. To call on the Iranian people or oppressed nations, especially the Kurdish nation, to rally around the Iranian regime in the face of Zionist aggression is a betrayal of social and national liberation struggles.
In the face of deepening political conflict, uncertainty, and chaos, the Iranian people have every right and duty to resist Zionist aggression independently of the Iranian regime, through a revolutionary program aimed at their own emancipation. The Kurdish nation and other oppressed nationalities within Iran have a legitimate right to resist both imperialist domination and the yoke of the Persian-chauvinist state. Any position that denies this is tantamount to imposing subjugation in the name of “unity against external threats.” Even under such conditions, the Iranian people and oppressed nations have every right to rebel and continue the fight for liberation. Targeting Zionist aggression does not contradict this position-it complements it.
Zionism must not be misunderstood it does not launch attacks on Iran because Iran is a “reactionary” regime. On the contrary, Israel maintains strategic and warm relations with many such regimes globally. The issue is not ideological-it is geopolitical. The Iranian regime represents a conflicting interest within the U.S.-Zionist restructuring project in the region.
Zionist Israel, under the protective umbrella of U.S. imperialism, is waging an aggressive campaign to envelop the entire region. The attack on Iran is only one part of this broader operation. Simultaneously, Yemen has been targeted. Political and military leadership structures of the Yemeni state have been attacked in parallel with the Iranian campaign. Following the assault on Iran, Israeli officials have openly stated, “The path to repeated strikes on Tehran is now open.” This confrontation may be paused through U.S.-Russia negotiations, but even then, the underlying contradictions remain unresolved. The current aggression and Iran’s response mark a new phase of escalated tensions and growing regional conflict.
The doors to regional war have been flung wide open. While temporary ceasefires may be brokered, the contradictions will intensify. Military, political, and economic initiatives by imperialist powers will accelerate following this aggression. Similarly, inter-state relations in the region will be reshaped by these developments.
In conclusion, the conditions for regional war have matured further compared to yesterday. The liquidation of national and social liberation movements-especially those forming the so-called “resistance front”-will intensify. U.S. imperialism and its puppets are offering the peoples and oppressed nations of the region a grim ultimatum: complete submission or annihilation. The attack on Iran is also a message to this effect.
The Zionist-imperialist ambition to turn the region into a rose garden free of thorns is rooted in a strategy of disarming, disorganizing, and depoliticizing the people and oppressed nations. Politically enslaving and ideologically erasing them is part of this broader agenda. Imposing such a fate on the people amid deepening contradictions is delusional. Imperialism is offering death, destruction, and servitude to create a paradise of exploitation. It is through the independent struggle and organization of the people and oppressed nations that this agenda will be defeated.
Let us organize a more militant and collective resistance line against the warmongering and aggression of imperialism and Zionism!
Down with Imperialism and All Forms of Reaction!
Let Us Organize the Peoples’ Resistance Against Zionist and Imperialist Aggression!
The War Between Israel and Iran Is Not the War of the Peoples but of the Ruling Classes!
Let Us Expand Resistance Against Unjust Wars and Build the Revolution!
Long Live Proletarian Internationalism!
Communist Party of Turkey / Marxist-Leninist Political Bureau
