By Otis Grotewohl
March 13, 2026
Recent U.S. and Israeli strikes against Iran have sparked anger, as well as debates, across the globe. In calling for an end to the new war, it is important that activists recognize U.S. imperialism as the biggest and main oppressor of the world’s people. Leftists and progressives should challenge false or misleading narratives that shift responsibility for wars of aggression away from Washington’s warmongers.
Both oppressor states are responsible for the crime. New York, March 8, 2026. Photo: John Catalinotto
In most cases, imperialist propaganda blames the oppressed people who are defending themselves. But it can be misleading when an imperialist spokesperson places responsibility on an ally that also uses state terror.
One example was Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s explaining the U.S. decision to join the aggression Feb. 28 by claiming the Israeli state announced it would attack. He said that Iran would retaliate against U.S. bases and the war would be on anyway, so it was better to carry out a sneak attack on Iran. Thus Rubio shifted responsibility for the war away from U.S. imperialism.
While it is true that for the last 40 years the Israeli warmongering regime has pushed for a joint U.S.-Israeli assault on Iran, Rubio’s argument, which the president later contradicted, ignores U.S. imperialism’s campaign to overthrow the Iranian government since the 1979 revolution there.
Even earlier, U.S. rulers started their own quagmire in Iran by overthrowing the elected Iranian Prime Minister Mohammed Mosaddegh in 1953, whose program damaged U.S. and British oil interests. The U.S. then helped install Reza Pahlavi as shah, a brutal dictator who was a client of those same oil monopolies and allied with Western imperialist and Israeli geopolitical interests for the next 26 years.
Iranian students and workers carried out a remarkable revolution in November 1979, where they deposed Shah Pahlavi. The Iranian people collectively nationalized oil production and the U.S. has repeatedly made military threats against their country ever since. Last June the U.S. bombed Iranian uranium enrichment sites, and just this February a third of the U.S. Navy moved within striking distance of Iran.
The U.S. is the imperialist superpower
It’s a problem if U.S. imperialism’s attempt to avoid blame for starting wars makes an impact on progressive forces. For example, consider the recent courageous protest carried out by former Marine and the Green Party U.S. senatorial candidate Brian McGinnis on March 4.
Video footage shows Capitol police and Republican Senator Tim Sheehy physically attacking McGinnis, who is interrupting a U.S. Senate hearing on the war against Iran. Footage also shows McGinnis’ arm broken when it got stuck in the doorway while police tried to subdue him after he yelled, “No one wants to fight for Israel.” (Reuters, March 5)
The Israeli settler state is a terrorist state in West Asia. It has been committing genocide against the population of Gaza for the last 30 months, murdering thousands of civilians in Lebanon. So there is no problem with blaming Israel or mobilizing to refuse to fight for Israel. The problem is if this excuses the role of U.S. imperialism, which is an equally terrorist state on a planetary level.
The U.S. regime has provided economic, military and diplomatic aid to the Israeli state since that country’s founding in 1948. The U.S. provides Israel with roughly $3.8 billion of military aid annually, allotting over $300 billion since Israel’s founding as a state in 1948. (cfr.org, Oct. 7, 2025)
This essential aid gives the U.S. leverage over Israel, because it can threaten to withhold military funding. Israel, in return, provides a local striking force in West Asia against any sovereign governments that challenge imperialist interests. Israel is also an unsinkable aircraft carrier. It does not, however, have the means to determine U.S. policies worldwide.
The genocide waged against Palestinians is bankrolled by U.S. tax dollars. While the direct damage inflicted upon Palestinians is being carried out by the racist, far-right Zionist coalition government of Israel and their Israel Occupation Forces (IOF), the U.S. makes the ongoing destruction possible.
The current Trump administration didn’t request Israel’s approval to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and Deputy of National Assembly Cilia Flores from their home in Caracas. Or to bomb motorboats in the Caribbean Sea and the East Pacific Ocean. Every recent U.S. administration has committed war crimes to expand its own imperialist interests.
Avoid right-wing tropes
Many right-wing podcasters and social media influencers use criticism of Israel and “defense of Palestine” as a cover for blatant antisemitism. Ultra-rightists such as Candace Owens, Nick Fuentes and Tucker Carlson are among those who disingenuously exploit the Palestinian cause to promote their bigoted platforms. Some of their commentary includes unconfirmed conspiracy theories and outright pro-Nazi propaganda.
They also push the Big Lie that the war on Iran is a “war for Israel,” or that Israel somehow “controls the U.S.”
Reactionary grifters want imperialism and settler colonialism to succeed, despite hollow “antiwar” rhetoric. The “America First” movement with which people like Fuentes and Carlson identify has violent, antisemitic roots in the U.S. — from the union-busting KKK to the pro-Nazi boss, Henry Ford.
U.S. officials have threatened Iran for the last five decades. They are now doubling down because the crisis is deepening. Military leaders are using zealous, religious rhetoric as a means for support because the U.S. is desperately trying to sell their new war.
Revolutionaries and Marxist-Leninists must explain and counteract positions circulating among progressive forces that might confuse the struggle. And never remove the blame from U.S. imperialism!
