Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair

On the same day that Israel’s genocidal army issued an evacuation order for Tehran for the first time, after having done so repeatedly in Gaza, Beirut, and Damascus, a statement came out of Iran by certain Iranian dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Narges Mohammadi, demanding an “immediate halt to uranium enrichment by the Islamic Republic” and “the cessation of military hostilities.” Their language echoed that of European leaders who call on both sides to de-escalate. Such framing was, to say the least, misleading in a war waged by Israel against Iran.

It presents Israeli invasion as a “devastating war between the Islamic Republic and the Israeli regime,” thereby falling into a bothsidesism that equates the aggressor with the one being invaded. Of course, contrary to the Gaza war, where there exists only one side, namely Israeli genocide, in the case of Iran, there are two state parties involved in the war, as the Islamic Republic has also long cheered on catchy but empty rhetoric, calling for the annihilation of Israel.

Yet, any uninitiated observer would easily recognize the asymmetrical power dynamic between the two parties: one supported, funded, and armed by the United States and all Western powers, the other defending itself alone. In such an unbalanced war, primary responsibility rests with the side that has the capacity to end the conflict simply by halting its bombing campaign. Yet, the dissidents’ statement made no mention of Israel’s unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal aggression. Instead, they appealed, predictably so as they have done before, to “the United Nations and the international community” to save them and to pressure the Islamic Republic “to cease all uranium enrichment activities” and to demand that “both parties halt military strikes.”

While it has some truth to it, this statement falls short of establishing the reality on the ground. Israel’s war was not about the nuclear program, nor did it appear to aim for regime change. Rather, following the genocidal campaign in Gaza and extending its war to Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen, it........

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