Middle East: war or peace?

13 June 2025 marked a dangerous turning point in the Middle East. Israel, backed by US imperialism, launched unprecedented strikes on Iran, targeting military sites but also causing heavy civilian casualties.

There was a time when international diplomacy was a relatively stable affair – undoubtedly complex, but at the same time fairly predictable. The great powers decided policy quite cynically, in line with their own national interests. 

This week, in a dramatic turn of events, Trump – who campaigned on the promise to end US ‘forever wars’ – decided to get involved in Israel’s war on Iran by dropping bombs on its nuclear facilities. 

In a major political upset, Zohran Mamdani, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, has won the Democratic primary for New York City mayor. The 33-year-old defeated former governor and establishment favorite, Andrew Cuomo, winning 43% of the first-choice votes against Cuomo’s 36%. As the Wall Street Journal observed, “the epicenter of global capitalism may soon have a socialist mayor.”

On June 21, Trump took the momentous step of bombing three nuclear sites in Iran with “bunker-busting” Massive Ordnance Penetrators (MOP) and Tomahawk missiles. This was the largest attack by the US on Iran in modern history.