08/31/2026
With the workers, the unions, the women, the oppressed people of Iran.
Against the US/Israel war on the people of Iran. Against the US/Israel genocide states.
Against all oppressors, abusers and authoritarian states. Against all apologists for authoritarian states everywhere.
Those who act as apologists for the authoritarian state in Iran, those who act as apologists for the ruling class, the ruling elites in Iran are those who deny the agency, the struggles of the oppressed people in Iran. To deny the legitimacy of the struggles of the workers, the unions, the women, the oppressed people in Iran is to turn a blind eye to the fight of the international working class and to side with the oppressors. Never trust any person or group who deny the agency, the legitimacy of the fight of the opptressed against oppression and exploitation because those persons and groups are on the side of the oppressors and exploiters.
Marandi’s Shameless Claim: Disinformation and the Attack on International Solidarity
On August 26, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, an internationally known adviser to and defender of the Islamic Republic’s domestic and foreign policies, posted a baseless claim that he had “been told by a very reliable source that the Israeli regime’s US lobby was behind The Guardian’s anti-Iranian letter.”
He refers to an open letter to Iranian political prisoners, signed by prominent Western academics, former and current political prisoners, and left-leaning activists. The letter expresses solidarity with political prisoners, calls for an end to executions and political imprisonment, and condemns U.S. and Israeli military aggression and sanctions against Iran.
You don’t have to agree with every aspect of the letter to reject state-sponsored character assassination. Attributing solidarity with Iranian political prisoners to “foreign intelligence” or “Zionist lobbies” is a dangerously calculated tactic to criminalize dissent, delegitimize independent labour unions and social movements, and portray their supporters as imperialist agents.
Iranian workers and leftist activists should not have to keep repeating that genuine anti-imperialism does not mean defending an oppressive capitalist state. We fiercely oppose foreign military intervention, war hawks, and imperialist sanctions that devastate working people. But opposition to Western imperialism can never excuse executions, political imprisonment, or suppression of independent trade unions and civil rights activists inside Iran.
To Western leftists, anti-imperialists, and activists who use figures like Marandi as sources for “independent analysis”: Marandi does not speak for Iran’s working class, the left, social movements, or political prisoners. Genuine internationalist solidarity means listening directly to independent Iranian workers, trade unions, teachers, students, socialist, feminist, and grassroots organizations, not regime mouthpieces in Tehran or the diaspora.
The Iranian working class has fiercely opposed the war on Iran, economic sanctions, U.S. imperialism, and the Israeli apartheid regime. Thousands of independent online forums make these voices accessible, and translation is easier than ever.
