The 21st century has seen numerous, brutal examples of regime change added to a centuries-old guidebook carefully crafted by the United States, a manual for imperialism that was tried, tested and perfected across the world during the 20th century.
This playbook sees the US government and its agents deploy an enormous array of both military and economic warfare tactics upon a desired nation’s population. This is similar to the shock doctrine advocated by neo-liberals that we see domestically, whereby nationalised industries are underfunded, disorganised and privatised. Globally, the formula for US imperialist expansion appears instead to be sanction, destabilise, and colonise. In that formula we may also find ‘occupy’ as a stage of advancement, where private armies and collaborators can’t be found able enough to do the job. Played out most glaringly in Iraq, we’ve also seen it more recently in Syria, and most tragically in Libya. It seems that today Venezuela and now Iran are on the cusp of reaching the third and fourth chapters of the US imperialist guidebook.
“If successful, this won’t be the first time that the US has carried out regime change in Iran.”
In the wake of its attack upon the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, the US appears to have been emboldened enough to ramp up its operations within Iran, with the goal of eliminating its biggest challenger in the ‘Middle East’. If successful, this won’t be the first time that the US has carried out regime change in Iran. In 1953, a joint CIA and MI6 operation successfully overthrew the democratically elected government of Iran in a coup d’état, arrested its leader and installed new management in the form of a monarchy – the Shah. This occurred following the nationalisation of the Iranian oil industry by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, who expelled foreign oil barons like British Petroleum, and began using Iran’s oil resources for the enrichment of its people, injecting its profits into new social programmes and land reform initiatives.
The US and British backed regime, under the Shah, would of course be more accommodating to western imperialist interests, and gave back the oil and land shares that had been lost in the nationalisation projects. The US puppet regime would last until the 1979 Iranian Revolution which established the Islamic Republic that exists today. The new republic would be avowedly anti-imperialist and began evicting all colonial powers from its borders. As a consequence, nations at the core of global imperialism have rallied to take unilateral action to re-establish their interests in Iran through sanctions and a state-sponsored invasion of Iran by Iraq under Saddam Hussein. Less than a quarter of a century later, Hussein would live to see his own country swallowed by the relentless tide of US imperialism.
“the crippling sanctions deployed against Iran as part of the economic warfare in support of Iraq remain in force today, to an even more brutal degree”
The revolution would rally to hold off the Iraqi invasion, but the crippling sanctions deployed against Iran as part of the economic warfare in support of Iraq remain in force today, to an even more brutal degree. They exist as a form of economic terrorism, designed to coerce the Iranian population into revolt through immiseration. For decades, these sanctions have involved blocking Iran from accessing its own bank accounts across the world, limiting their access to medicines, and depriving them of critical machinery needed for industrial development. By necessity, Iran’s economy is now delinked from the global US imperial network, and in turning to its allies in China, Russia and elsewhere, it has been forced to develop its own independently advanced pharmaceutical and appliance industries, nuclear programme and agricultural campaigns, much to the chagrin of US imperialism. More importantly, like Venezuela, Iran has immense oil reserves – the third largest globally – and also like Venezuela, its ability to trade its country’s most valuable resources is hindered by US interference.
It is due to these economic sanctions that we arrive today at the ongoing unrest in Iran. Protests there began a lot sooner than 2026 as many would have us believe. Before the gaze of the western media descended on Iran, demonstrations had been protesting the devastating effects on their economy that were created or exacerbated by US imposed sanctions. These protests weren’t demanding constitutional revolution, but economic and political reforms to assist a population that is being smothered by US economic warfare, and ignored by a government preoccupied by the threat of attacks from Israel. It is only with the recent media coverage that we have seen demonstrations descend into bloodshed and divide into anti and pro-Republic camps. We have to ask, Why? We can take lessons from the destruction of the Soviet Union. The major protests seen before its fall began as cries for MORE socialism (less bureaucracy, more participations etc.) not less. Instead, it devolved into the seeds of neoliberal shock therapy and ushered in its end.
“when the time is ripe, they will steamroll through Iran with whatever force is needed”
We owe this to the powerful influence and ability of agents to infect, weaken and destroy. Irish Republicans know this all too well, and so does Iran. It’s no simple conspiracy theory to assert that the divisions forming within the Iranian protests and its escalation from non-violence to bloodshed, are as a direct result of CIA and Mossad operations. Both Washington and Tel Aviv have boasted of their recent activities. Like in Syria, they will pit Iranian against Iranian, and when the time is ripe, they will steamroll through Iran with whatever force is needed, reaping what they wish, and leaving behind another lesson for the world.
But of what concern is Iran to Irish Republicans? The Iranian Republic, from its earliest days, has been a major sponsor of anti-imperialist and national liberation groups across the globe. In Ireland it offered unconditional support to the Republican struggle against British occupation. Following the death of Bobby Sands in May 1981, the Tehran street that was home to the British embassy was renamed from Winston Churchill Street to Bobby Sands Street in solidarity with the hunger strikes. Today, Iran gives material support to those resisting US and Zionist imperialism within the region, particularly to the Palestinian resistance. They unite and maintain the Axis of Resistance in Western Asia against the Greater Israel project. Alongside the Houthis, Iran has offered the greatest support to the Palestinian people amid the ongoing genocide. Since the revolution in 1979, they have done more to combat the spread of Wahhabi terrorist groups (for example, Al-Qaeda and ISIS) than the US and all of its allies combined. This is the importance of the Iranian Republic to the anti-imperialist world.
“Who benefits from the overthrow of the Iranian Republic? The answer is simple – imperialism”
An obvious question remains then. Who benefits from the overthrow of the Iranian Republic? The answer is simple – imperialism, of the US and Zionist variety. What can we learn from those in our own country and abroad who are dancing in the streets at the sight of violence erupting in Iran? Simply look at the flags they are waving and who they call upon for support. They wave the old flag of the monarchy – they wish to reinstall the Shah. Who is being assisted by the imposition of the son of a Zionist and Yankee collaborator? They call upon Donald Trump to intervene as their saviour, and praise him for his deeds in Venezuela. May it never pass that those people need swallow those words with their own tears, and let them curse the tongue in their heads for the day they ever blessed imperialism. The US is the world’s largest ‘producer’ of oil, what a year 2026 would be if it added the first and third biggest oil reserves into its empire’s ever growing grasp. What an achievement it would be if the rest of the world stopped them.
The loss of life within Iran right now is reprehensible, but it will only pale in comparison to the bloodshed that will follow if the world allows the Iranian Republic to fall to another US sponsored colour revolution. The future of the Republic belongs to the people of Iran and no-one else. Neither to Zionist or Yankee imperialists. Republicans and Socialists in Ireland must be careful with their rhetoric, and not join in with the chorus of praise and encouragement for colour revolution like many did with Libya. The contradictions and issues inherent in the Islamic Republic, as they are with every current system of government, are the Iranian’s to solve, and theirs alone. They should be given every chance to do so by ending all imperialist sanctions placed upon it. Iran has been the greatest nation-state threat to the US imperialist domination of Western Asia. It is one of the last actively anti-imperialist actors in the Global South and it is under attack by the most violent empire in world history. It deserves our support.
