[The following article is taken from the April 8 issue of the British weekly Socialist Challenge. It has been slightly abridged.]
Iran has scored a major victory against the invading Iraqi forces in the 18 month old Gulf war. Iranian officials have made clear that they have no intention of entering into Iraqi territory. But the Iranian revolution threatens nonetheless to engulf Iraq — much to the consternation of imperialism.
The three wave Iranian counter-offensive against the occupying Iraqi Fourth army corp began on March 22 in the Dezful-Shush region of Khusestan. The 20,000 Iraqi troops were routed.
The Iraqi army was more numerous and far better equipped than that of Iran. According to the Guardian: "Apart from a few tanks, the Iranians heaviest weapons appear to have been jeep-mounted recoilless rifles." The difference in morale of the two armies was a decisive factor.
Huge crowds came out in Tehran to celebrate the victory on the occasion of the third anniversary of the founding of the Islamic republic. Iranian leaders called for the overthrow of Saddam Hussein of Iraq. But in a speech read out by his son to the crowd, Ayatollah Khomeini made it clear that Iran harboured no aggressive intentions against any other coun try.
Earlier, the Iranian President Hojatoleslam Ali Khamenei declared in a radio broadcast that Iran had no designs on Iraqi territory. "It is the Ba'athist mercenaries who attacked our country and occupied parts of it. Aggression is not in keeping with the dignity of the Islamic Republic," he said.
"The Moslems of Iraq are Iran's brothers," he added. "Our support for them does not mean that we will take our forces into Iraqi territory."
Saddam Hussein had originally gone into Iran on the pretext of a border dispute over sovereignty of the Shatt-Al-Arab waterway. But his real aim was to reverse the gains of the Iranian revolution and prevent its inspiration leading to his overthrow.
In this situation, the repulsion of the invasion by the independent mobilisation and organisation of the workers, peasants, oppressed nationalities and army ranks was the chief task of the day.
Without in any way giving political support to Khomeini (opposing the voting for war credits in the Majhlis, for example revolutionary Marxists in Iran proposing the arming of aly marxists in tan proposing me arming or the masses as the best way to defeat the conter-revolutionary intervention of the Iraqi Army.
It is despite the restrictions which the Khomeini regime placed on such mass mobilisations that the military victories of the recent past have been won. In doing so they have struck a blow against the reactionary Ba'athist regime, bringing closer the prospect of the demise of Saddam Hussein.
The reactionary Arab states and imperialism will also receive a body blow from any definitive Iraqi defeat. Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan have all given backing to Saddam Hussein, bankrolling the gargantuan costs of the war. Jordan not only provided arms but also dispatched a "volunteer" force.
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In the aftermath of the recent defeats, King Hussein of Jordan has visited Baghdad promising the fullest support. President Mubarak has declared that Egypt supports Iraq as an Arab country."
It is evident that US imperialism will not either stand by. Their economic blockade which has resulted in major hardships for the Iranian people is clearly not enough. As the
Guardian explained: "The State Department, reflecting concern that Iran's recent victories over Iraq could eventually alter the political balance in the Gulf region, has called for urgent negotiations."
It is this deepening concern over the potential of the Iranian revolution to inspire revolts in the rest of the Arab region that has led the in the rest of the Arab region that has led the US to increase their aid dramatically to coun ter-revolutionary groups trying to overthrow the Khomeini regime.
The New York Times recently reported on support for covert actions which include financing two paramilitary units composed largely of Iranian exiles in eastern Turkey adjacent to Iran, providing several million dollars a year to Iranian exiles groups.
US support doesn't only extend to monarchist groups. The economic journal 8 Days reports that US sources say Washington, Baghdad, and Riyadh would all like to see Abol Hassan Bani Sadr restored to power in Tehran, and US officials have had substantial contact with the former Iranian president and his entourage in Paris." Bani Sadr is an alliance with the Mojahedin who have been responsible for a bombing and assassination campaign against the top leadership of Khomeini's Islamic Republican Party.
The recent Iranian military victories will be a signal for the stepping up of attacks on the Iranian revolution. It is the task of socialists to oppose these attacks.