EDITORIAL
Middle East:
The Threat of a Wider War Escalates

Jun 15, 2025

In the early morning hours on Friday June 13, Israel launched a surprise missile and drone attack on Iran, hitting dozens of military and nuclear research sites. Over 140 people were reported killed, including several senior military officials and nuclear scientists. By the end of the day Friday, Iran had retaliated, launching missiles at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, killing over a dozen people. The attacks between the two countries continued into Sunday.

Israel’s stated intention was to damage Iran’s nuclear enrichment capabilities and slow down its progress toward building a nuclear bomb. Iran has stated that its nuclear program is only for civilian uses.

Iran and the U.S. had been in talks about its nuclear programs; these talks were set to resume Sunday, but have now been called off. This seems to have been part of Israel’s intentions too—to halt those negotiations. One of the Iranian officials killed was overseeing the talks with the U.S.

Trump seems to have been put into a difficult situation by Netanyahu. Just on Thursday, Trump urged Netanyahu not to attack Iran, saying, “I don’t want them going in because that would blow (negotiations) up.” But after the attack, and after Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement saying Israel had acted unilaterally and the U.S. had not played a role, Trump pivoted. He blamed Iran for the attack, saying, “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal” to stop it from enriching uranium, “but...they just couldn’t get it done.” Trump also wanted to make clear that he was not surprised by the attack, that he had been fully in the loop. He’s got to be the one in control, even if he’s not.

In any case, Israel did tell the U.S. about its plans ahead of time. The U.S. started removing officials from the region on Wednesday, so they clearly anticipated that something was going to happen.

As it stands now, Iran certainly doesn’t believe that Israel would have carried out this attack without the U.S.’s knowledge and approval, if not outright support. Iran has said that any further talks would be “meaningless” after these attacks. It was, after all, caught by surprise by these attacks precisely because the U.S. was offering talks.

It’s possible that this exchange will be limited for now. But there is a very real possibility that Israel will continue its attacks, that Iran will continue its counterattacks, and that the U.S. will get drawn in more directly militarily. Israel says it won’t stop until Iran’s nuclear capabilities are completely eradicated, but Israel doesn’t have the ability by itself to do that; Iran’s nuclear facilities are deep underground, so Israel would need U.S. help if it really plans to do that. And what might begin as air strikes can quickly move to a ground war.

And any escalation of a war between Israel and Iran threatens not only to pull the U.S. in, but also other countries in the region, as well as major powers beyond. The U.S. has already signaled its intention to send more troops and ships to the region, on top of the bases it already has there.

This is the danger under capitalism and imperialism, where war is always just a step away. Imperialist countries like the U.S. need military might to inflict their control and will on the world. It is the logic of a system that requires major military force; a system that pours billions of dollars into that military force. It is the logic of a system that uses Israel as its proxy in the region to maintain that control, arming Israel to the teeth to do that job.

The entire situation in the Middle East, including the conflicts there, and Israel’s role, is Imperialism’s creation. And so long as Imperialism is around, the danger of war, and of a wider war, even a world war, always looms.