While the U.S. is now at war with Iran, the United States has been deeply implicated in Israel’s war on Iran for some time. Trump has been a staunch ally of Benjamin Netanyahu in his recent wars on Palestine and Israel’s attacks on Lebanon, Yemen, and Syria. Trump approved Israel’s attack on the Islamic Republic, and may have given it the green light before it occurred. The United States provides Israel with about $3.5 billion dollars in military aid each year, hundreds of billion since the country’s founding, money used to buy U.S.-made planes, bombs, missiles, tanks, and guns.

Trump campaigned for president and built his Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, promising that he would end U.S. involvement in foreign wars. He suggested he would use the threat of America’s military might to maintain order around the globe. He put himself forward as a peacemaker, arguing he could end the war between Russia and Ukraine and between Israel and Gaza in short order. He called upon Iran to negotiate with Israel to reach a peaceful settlement. His MAGA advisors like Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson have been fiercely opposed to America entering the war, as is the movement’s base. Trump has not talked about regime change, a taboo among his MAGA followers who blame Trump’s decision to join the war could deeply divide his followers and cost him political support.

Trump has warned Iran that if it responds by attacking U.S. troops in the Middle East, it will face even more devastating strikes. The United States has 40,000 troops in 19 bases in the region, most in eight permanent bases in Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The Bahrain base, for example, home to the U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet, has 9,000 military and civilian personnel. Iran and its allies have the ability to target these facilities, to damage them, and to take the lives of U.S. fighters. If that were to happen, Trump’s MAGA base might rebel against him.

It is not clear what will happen in Iran now. Just as when the United States launched its war on Iraq in 2003—one of the “forever wars,” lasting until 2011—the war in Iran could become an inextricable quagmire. The U.S war on Iraq, which led to a civil war estimated to have killed between 100,000 and one million people. Iran is a theocratic state ruled by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, head of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government and of the state religion. His Islamic regime has killed thousands and imprisoned tens of thousands who participated in several anti-government protests since 1999. Now weakened by war, the regime could collapse, possibly leading to a civil war between the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard and the Iranian people who want change.

In the United States, there have already been anti-war protests in a number of cities from San Jose, California, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to New York City. Following the U.S. bombing on June 21, groups such as 50501, an organizer of anti-Trump demonstrations, called for nationwide protests on Sunday June 22, but that was short notice and temperatures at 100° F and thunderstorms inhibited protests. But anti-war demonstrations are sure to come. We on the left will be in them.

21 June 2025

Dan La Botz