Why U.S. is targeting Iran

Oil and social gains: WHY THE U.S. IS TARGETING IRAN

“The forces opposing Washington’s policy ofendless war--whether waged through sanctions, coups, invasions, bombings or sabotage--should stand with Iran, recognize its accomplishments, defend its gains and oppose imperialism’s efforts to
re-colonize the country.”



Why is Iran increasingly a target of U.S. threats?

Who in Iran will be affected if the Pentagon implements plans, already drawn up, to strike more than 10,000 targets in the first hours of a U.S. air barrage on Iran?

What changes in policy is Washington demanding of the Iranian government?

In the face of the debacle U.S. imperialism is facing in Iraq, U.S. threats against Iran are discussed daily. This is not a secret operation. They can't be considered idle threats. Two aircraft carriers--USS
Eisenhower and USS Stennis--are still off the coast of Iran, each one accompanied by a carrier strike group containing Hornet and
Superhornet fighter-bombers, electronic warfare aircraft, antisubmarine and refueler planes, and
airborne command-and-control planes. Six guided-missile destroyers are also part of the armada. Besides this vast array of firepower, the Pentagon has bases throughout the Middle East able to attack Iran with cruise missiles and hundreds of warplanes. In fact, the U.S. is already engaged in a war on Iran. Ever-tightening sanctions, from both the U.S. and U.N., restrict trade and the ordering of equipment, spare parts and supplies. Seymour Hersh reported in the New Yorker magazine a year ago that U.S. special operations forces were already operating inside Iran in preparation for a possible attack. U.S.-backed covert operatives had
entered Iran to organize sabotage, car bombings, kidnappings and attacks on civilians, to collect targeting data and to foment anti-government ethnicminority groups. News articles have reported in recent months that the Pentagon has drawn up plans for a military blitz that would strike 10,000 targets in the first day of attacks. The aim is to destroy not just military targetsbut also airports, rail lines, highways, bridges, ports, communication centers, power grids, industrial centers, hospitals and public buildings.
It is important to understand internal developmentsin Iran today in order to understand why this country
is the focus of such continued hatred by U.S. corporate power. Every leading U.S. political figure has weighed in on
the issue, from George W. Bush, who has the power to order strikes, to Hillary Clinton,
who has made her support for an attack on Iran clear, to John McCain, who answered a reporter's question on policy toward Iran by
chanting "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran" to the tune of the Beach Boys' song, "Barbara Ann." The media--from the New York Times to the Washington Post to banner headlines in the tabloid press to right-wing radio talk shows--are
playing a role in preparing the public for an attack.The significance of oil production
and oil reserves in Iran is well known. Every news article, analysior politician's threat makes mentionof Iran’s oil. But the impact of Iran’s nationalization of its oil resources is not well known. The corporate owners in the U.S. want to keep it asecret from the people here. They use all the power of their media to demonize the Iranian leadership and caricature and ridicule the entire population, their
culture and religion.

What’s been achieved?

The focus of media coverage here is to describe Iran as medieval, backward and feudal while somehow becoming a nuclear power.
It is never mentioned that more than half the university students in Iran are women, or that more than a third of the doctors, 60 percent of civil servants and 80 percent of all teachers in Iran are women. At the time of the 1979 Iranian Revolution, 90 percent of
rural women were illiterate; in towns the figure was over 45 percent.Also ignored is the stunning achievement of full literacy for Iranian youth.

Even the World Bank, now headed by Bush's --