This article was published in Persian on 11 March 2026 by the Iranian Revolutionary Marxists’ Tendency
Despite budgets of several billion dollars, the security officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran could not prevent Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei’s assassination on the very first day of the war against American imperialism and the Zionist regime. A week after his father’s assassination, and many members of the Khamenei clan, the Assembly of Experts appointed Mojtaba, who himself had been injured in the Israeli bombing, to the position of leader.
The childish propaganda of the bankrupt regime immediately occupied itself with slogans such as “The hand of God has been revealed, Khamenei has become young.” At the same time, the people who were being killed by “our own” capitalist repressive apparatus two months ago were now busy securing bread and other basic necessities of life under the bombardment of imperialism’s bombs and missiles (and in Tehran, suffering in thick smoke and acid rain).
Whether Mojtaba Khamenei will survive and be able to “lead” after this second imperialist war against “our own” capitalist regime or not; and to what extent he will be a puppet of the pasdaran [IRGC] and its economic and military interests and the capitalist oligarchy that has been increasingly concentrated around it over the past few decades; depends on the balance of class forces, that is, the degree to which the clandestine cells of the proletariat are organised to intensify the class war, as well as the struggles of all the exploited layers.
However, the logic of the capitalist system and its fundamental laws, such as the law of value, will continuously exert more pressure on the oligarchic capitalist regime. Didn’t the economic pressures of the eight-year war with the Baathist regime in Iraq lead to Khomeini – the same Khomeini who always advocated “war, war, until victory” – to “drink the cup of poison” [and agree to a ceasefire in July 1988]? Or didn’t the same Ali Khamenei, after Trump tore up the JCPOA [nuclear] agreement, twice use his “heroic flexibility” to approve negotiations with the same hard-line faction of imperialism – who both times started the war in the middle of diplomatic meetings and discussions!
For the vanguard workers, the nature of “our own” capitalist regime has been clear for years. And since August 1953, the conscious and militant sections of women, national minorities, youth and intellectuals have been familiar with the taste of “democracy” and “freedom” that America has in mind. The time has come for not only the entire proletariat, but all the exploited and oppressed layers to prepare for their own liberation by organising clandestine cells so that the resources of the country, and the wealth and capital that workers produce, can be used to meet the needs and demands of the masses. The control of these resources and wealth, whether in the hands of the pasdaran and “our own” capitalist oligarchy or in the hands of American capitalists, will only lead to the intensification of poverty, homelessness and the trampling of the democratic rights of the masses.
And whether the process and conclusion of the Islamic Republic’s transition to a military-nationalist capitalist regime that defends the capital and wealth of a very limited minority in society, and the preparation for coexistence with imperialism, is slow or fast (and if it involves another war or not), the structural crisis of the capitalist system in Iran will lead to a revolutionary situation. Now, organisational and political preparation for this inevitable crisis is the first priority of the vanguard workers. The emancipation of the working class will be achieved only by the working class itself. And only the revolutionary proletariat is the standard-bearer for the emancipation of all the exploited and oppressed layers.
Let us build the clandestine cells of the anti-capitalist masses!
Let us build the clandestine socialist vanguard workers’ cells!
Let us occupy the factories and implement workers’ control!
Let us unite the workers’ nationwide action and form the workers’ leadership command centre!
Let us establish a workers’ government and transition to a socialist society!
