Vol. 79/No. 27      August 3, 2015

“You can’t ignore the fact that you have Russia, China, the United Kingdom, France and Germany all aligned,” said California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Intelligence Committee, motivating support for the deal. “It is very likely that, regardless of what we do, these nations will drop their sanctions at some point.”

The deal is part of the Obama administration’s efforts to reimpose stability in the Mideast to the advantage of U.S. imperialism as the post-World War I order there continues to unravel. In the 1916 Sykes-Picot Agreement and subsequent accords, the capitalist rulers of Britain and France, victors against Germany and the Ottoman Empire, carved up the oil-rich region, drew new national borders and divvied up hegemony.

In the ashes of World War II, Washington emerged as the unrivaled imperialist power. It took over domination of the Mideast with the help of the Stalinist regime in Moscow, which kept revolutionary movements in the region in check in the name of “peaceful coexistence” with U.S. imperialism.

Old arrangements coming apart

Since taking office, Obama has presented combat in the region as “blowback” resulting from Washington’s past military interventions. Acting to avoid putting any significant “boots on the ground,” he has sought negotiated settlements with rulers he regards as enlightened where possible, and used aerial bombardment, special forces and drone strikes when there is no alternative.

The exhaustion of bourgeois and petty-bourgeois nationalist forces and counterrevolutionary betrayals by Stalinist parties in the region have created a vacuum that the reactionary Islamic State has moved to fill. Obama has pivoted toward Iran and Russia, both of which, for their own reasons, have vested interests in fighting IS.

The new Iran accord, submitted to Congress July 19 with a 60-day deadline for a vote, sets limits on the Iranian government’s nuclear activities for 10 years.

In return, the U.S. and its allies pledge — after verifying compliance, a process expected to take six to nine months — to lift the punishing economic sanctions they began imposing on the country in 2006. While some clerics and Revolutionary Guard commanders in Iran have opposed the deal, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei backs it.

Leading Republican presidential candidates have denounced the accord. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker opposes ending the sanctions and told CNN July 19 the deal would “accelerate the nuclear arms race, and it is empowering Iran to do what they’re going to do.”

The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved the Iran deal July 20, deferring its implementation until after Congress votes.

European powers didn’t waste any time making overtures to Iran, a country with a population of 82 million and a gross domestic product of $400 billion. German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel met with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani July 20, accompanied by a delegation of business executives. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is also planning to visit.

Contradictory response in Mideast

Carter also flew to Riyadh to meet with Saudi Arabia’s King Salman July 22. The country’s Sunni monarchy, which is in direct competition throughout the Mideast with largely Shia Iran, gave tepid support to the agreement, but has said it will develop its own nuclear program. The Saudi rulers have given substantial aid and military support to forces fighting Iranian allies in Yemen and to opponents of the Syrian regime.

Islamic State, with its thuggish methods, attracts a layer of youth who despair for the future and see no other road forward to its cause of imposing Sharia law through terror. It has some similarities with fascism. It has expanded control over large swaths of Syria and Iraq. Its repressive governance, loathsome to many, is regarded by some as preferable to corruption, neglect and discrimination against Sunnis under the Iraqi or Syrian governments.

Washington hopes that the deal with Tehran, backed by Moscow, will strengthen efforts to crush Islamic State. In Syria, where the Russian and Iranian rulers finance and arm the brutal regime of Bashar al-Assad, a civil war raging since 2011 has destroyed the country, killing more than 220,000 and forcing some 11 million from their homes.

“The Iranian nation and government will remain at the side of the Syrian nation and government until the end of the road,” said Rouhani in June.

So while Washington counts on the Iran deal to help re-establish stability, its coalitions of allies have contradictory and irreconcilable interests. The moves the U.S. rulers are taking risk unleashing more frictions and wars for years to come.  
 
 
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