Washington has carried out a massive military buildup in the Mideast in recent weeks, including sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, destroyers, fighter jets and thousands of troops, on top of the 40,000 already stationed in eight bases across the region, available should the government decide on attacking Iran. U.S. government representatives held talks Feb. 6 with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, hosted by Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi. The session focused on Tehran’s nuclear program.
Washington is seeking broader concessions, but the clerical regime in Iran is resisting.
“They want to make a deal, as they should want to make a deal,” President Donald Trump said. “If they don’t make a deal, the consequences are very steep.”
He pointed to what the U.S. rulers did in Venezuela. “If you remember Venezuela, we waited around for a while,” he threatened, “and we’re in no rush.”
The U.S. rulers’ military buildup and threats of attack have nothing to do with advancing the fight of working people in Iran against the clerical, capitalist regime there. What Washington seeks is to advance its own imperialist interests in reaping superprofits from oil and other resources in the region. It seeks to maintain stable, capitalist rule with influence and sway over all governments across the region, including Tehran, Ankara, Riyadh and Israel.
This is part of Washington’s broader drive to reinforce its domination as the top dog in the imperialist world. This was the fruit of it emerging the victor out of the imperialist slaughter in World War II, where over 70 million perished. The U.S. rulers are pushing to rebuild their industrial might today and use it to further expand their military might. The oil and other resources of the Middle East are an important part of this, as well as an effort to deal blows to their rivals, especially in Beijing.
While Trump described the session as “good talks,” as soon as they ended the State Department imposed new sanctions on Iran, saying it would block any transactions with 14 vessels that transport Iranian oil, including ships flagged from Turkey, India and the United Arab Emirates.
While the jockeying is going on, the rulers in Tehran look to continue to advance their capacity to attack Israel and the Jews who live there. This informs all their moves with Washington today.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with Trump in Washington Feb. 11, in talks that will center on the Iran negotiations.
As far as Israel and Gaza are concerned, the Trump administration plans to impose phase two of its “peace” plan. Washington is determined to prevent Netanyahu from completing the destruction of Hamas, instead seeking to wrap him up in a whole series of red tape measures that the U.S. rulers can control and profit from.
A meeting of the U.S.-led “Board of Peace,” with government representatives from more than 20 countries, is being organized in Washington Feb. 19.
This phase is supposed to include formation of a “technocratic” government in Gaza, the arrival of a multinational peacekeeping force that does not yet exist, and some measure of “disarmament” of Hamas.
Hamas, the Nazi-like group that carried out the anti-Jewish pogrom in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that killed 1,200 people, kidnapped 251 and raped and mutilated dozens of women, has made clear it has no intention of being disarmed.
Hamas rebuilds since Gaza ceasefire
In fact ever since the White House imposed its ceasefire on Gaza four months ago, the Tehran-backed outfit has been reestablishing its police power in much of Gaza and rebuilding its military capabilities.
“Hamas is taking steps on the ground intended to preserve its influence and grip on the Gaza Strip from below,” reported Israel’s Channel 13 News, citing a recent Israel Defense Forces document. “This is being done by integrating its operatives into government ministries and the security apparatuses.”
“Even if Hamas officially announces that it has handed over control of Gaza to the technocratic government,” said the Times of Israel, “it would still have tens of thousands of armed members in its military wing and internal security forces across the Strip.”
Hamas has used deliveries from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, in which it long ago enmeshed its supporters, to conceal weapons supplies. On Feb. 3 the IDF reports it “located approximately 110 mortar shells, several rockets and additional weapons, which had been hidden inside blankets and UNRWA humanitarian aid bags.”
Appointed to the “Board of Peace” by Trump, the governments of both Turkey and Pakistan have offered to send troops to the Gaza peacekeeping force. But both regimes have been allies of Hamas and are outspoken opponents of Israel’s right to defend itself as a refuge for Jews. The Israeli government strongly opposes them having any role in “policing” Gaza.
In response to the mandates of Washington, Netanyahu issued a statement reiterating his government’s “uncompromising demand for the disarmament of Hamas, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, and the fulfillment of the war objectives prior to the reconstruction of the Strip.” The Israel Defense Forces is the only force with the capability to completely defeat and disarm Hamas.
This perspective, decisive to the defense of Israel as a refuge from Jew-hatred, clashes with Washington’s imperialist aims in the region.