Iran stands as Muslim world’s final frontier of resistance against imperialism and Zionism

By Iqbal Suleiman

The Islamic Republic of Iran stands as the final frontier of resistance against Western imperialism and Zionism, and as a sole defender of the inalienable right to self-determination for peoples across the Muslim world, including the people of Palestine.

The ongoing genocide in Gaza – which has already killed over 70,000 people – has shattered the superficial and sectarian divisions long cultivated by Western imperialism and Zionism.

It has awakened the Muslim public consciousness. With new clarity, Muslims now recognize that nearly all leaders and governments in the Muslim world collaborated in, or were complicit with, the genocide in Gaza. The sole exception has been Iran.

Israel’s unrestrained brutality has begun to unsettle even its regional allies. Yet despite this, the regime remains America’s top priority under US President Donald Trump.

Qatar offered Trump a private jet. The Persian Gulf states transferred trillions of dollars to the United States, even as Washington provided unwavering military, diplomatic, and economic support for Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.

Today, Persian Gulf states are coming to terms with the existential threat Israel poses to their own security. When Israel bombed Qatar, the US military made no move to defend the Arab country. It was a stark wake-up call. Despite years of appeasement, submission, and flattery, American policy was made unmistakably clear: “Israel First.”

If Iran were to fall – as some doomsayers prematurely predict – the gates of chaos would open across West Asia. American and Israeli hegemony would be cemented, and Israel would accelerate its expansionist settlement project, invading neighboring countries in pursuit of its so-called “Greater Israel” agenda.

From ordinary people to ruling elites, many now fear a future in which Zionist soldiers desecrate Islam’s holiest sites, as they have repeatedly desecrated Al-Aqsa Mosque.

For more than two years of genocide in Gaza, not a single Arab or Muslim country fired a bullet in defense of the Palestinians. The Islamic Republic of Iran, under the leadership of Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, stands alone: the only country with no economic, diplomatic or political ties to Israel, the only one to have armed the oppressed people of Palestine, and the only one to have directly struck the Zionist entity with a barrage of missiles.

More than a thousand Iranian military commanders, nuclear scientists, and ordinary civilians were martyred as a result of Israeli military aggression last June.

Were it not for the cruel and crippling sanctions imposed on Iran for over 47 years – punishment for its unwavering solidarity with Palestine – Iranians would be living far more secure and comfortable lives. This is why the Muslim street increasingly understands that a war on Iran would not be merely a regional conflict, but a war against the Muslim world as a whole.

Effects of a war with Iran

In 2002, as Benjamin Netanyahu zealously beat the drums of war against the people of Iraq, he declared: “If you take out Saddam, Saddam’s regime, I guarantee you it will have enormous positive reverberations throughout the region.”

Those so-called “positive reverberations” materialized as catastrophe: over 600,000 Arab civilians killed, 3.9 million refugees, the birth of Daesh, the normalization of beheadings, sectarian civil war, rivers of blood, and the systematic destruction of Iraq’s infrastructure.

Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei is not Bashar al-Assad, Saddam Hussein, or Muammar Gaddafi. The Islamic Republic of Iran – and its Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) – will not collapse without resistance. It is there to stay and survive and thrive.

Iran is fundamentally different from Iraq, Libya, or Syria. Unlike those states, the Iranian government enjoys deep popular support both domestically and across the region.

In Assad’s Syria, Saddam’s Iraq, and Gaddafi’s Libya, the security services and armed forces largely consisted of professional soldiers whose loyalty was sustained by salaries and privilege. In contrast, the IRGC and the Basij are ideologically rooted in the Islamic Revolution founded by Imam Khomeini. Their allegiance is not transactional. It cannot be bought. They are prepared to die for their beliefs.

These revolutionaries are willing to fight to the last man standing. Imam Khomeini once stated: “We have no fear of America’s military or its economic blockade. We have God. Even if all the doors of the world were closed, the doors of God’s mercy would remain open.”

Astonishingly, American decision-makers appear either unaware of – or dismissive toward – this ideological dimension, which is the most critical factor in any confrontation with Iran. The Empire would be engaging an adversary unlike any it has previously faced.

A US war on Iran would ignite the entire region. Oil fields across the Persian Gulf could be set ablaze, the Strait of Hormuz could be closed, and the global economy could be plunged into recession.

American and Israeli casualties would exceed those of any previous war. While there is no dispute that the United States and Israel possess superior conventional military power, Iran – despite lacking parity – has developed formidable indigenous capabilities, particularly in missile and drone warfare. These systems can strike American and Israeli targets in ways they have never experienced before.

Yet Iran’s greatest weapon is neither missiles nor drones. It is the faith, fearlessness, and resolve of its fighters. No other national army in the world embraces death and martyrdom with the same conviction as the revolutionary forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

They are devout followers of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), who was once offered wealth, power, and comfort in exchange for abandoning his mission. His response, in essence, was: “If you place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left, I will not abandon my struggle for truth and justice.”

The Prophet (PBUH) was revolutionary, principled, and defiant – exposing the limits of earthly power while affirming God’s ultimate authority over human affairs. For his followers and the followers of his holy progeny, submission to imperialism and Zionism is unthinkable. They would rather fight and die than bow.

No one can predict the duration or outcome of a war with Iran. History repeatedly shows that those who initiate wars rarely control how or when they end. While American leaders may desire a short war, reality suggests otherwise.

Trump and Netanyahu, despite boasting of their soldiers’ bravery, would pursue a cowardly war – relying on aerial bombardment rather than committing ground forces. They will not send their troops onto Iranian soil to confront Iranian soldiers directly.

Iranians, however, possess the endurance for a prolonged struggle. The war imposed on Iran by Saddam Hussein in the 1980s – backed by Western powers, including the United States – lasted more than eight years. During that imposed war, chemical weapons were used against Iranian civilians, yet Iran did not capitulate.

Netanyahu’s long-term objective is the Balkanization of Iran, just as he sought the fragmentation of Syria – reducing it to a weak, unstable state trapped in perpetual conflict.

Such a war would not remain confined to Iran. It would rapidly evolve into a regional conflagration, as Ayatollah Khamenei has warned explicitly. Israeli and American military bases across the Persian Gulf would be targeted by Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the Axis of Resistance would, in all likelihood, enter the conflict in solidarity with Iran.

Iran and the Global South

Beyond the Persian Gulf and the Muslim world, millions across the Global South – who are not part of the military Axis of Resistance – will express their opposition through nonviolent civil disobedience against Zionist and imperialist aggression.

Symbols of imperial power will be challenged and disrupted by anti-war protesters in neighborhoods across the world. Starbucks, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, and Pepsi outlets will face boycotts and shutdowns. International sporting spectacles such as the FIFA World Cup will be boycotted, and the campaign against American products will be globalized.

Iran not only honors its own indigenous freedom fighters but also pays tribute to international icons of resistance revered throughout the Global South. Streets in Iran bear the names of Nelson Mandela, Patrice Lumumba, Malcolm X, and others who embodied the global struggle against oppression, colonialism, and racism.

The masses of the Global South stand firmly in solidarity with Iran. The poor and working classes recognize Iran’s consistent support for the oppressed people of Gaza, its principled political stance, and its early decision to sever all ties with apartheid South Africa and apartheid Israel.

Any war against Iran would be unlawful and unjust. Imam Khomeini famously stated: “Acceptance of injustice is worse than the injustice itself.” One certainty remains: the Iranian people will never accept the injustice of war. Resistance to oppression is deeply embedded in their historical and cultural consciousness.

Yet the truth is that there are no winners in war. Both Iranians and Americans would suffer. War must never be romanticized. Its true outcomes are orphans, mass graves, widows, lifelong injuries, tears, poverty, instability, insecurity, trauma, mental illness, hatred, vengeance, and the transformation of once-living cities into rubble and ruins.

For this reason, every person of conscience should oppose an unlawful, unjust, and Islamophobic war on Iran. Across the world, people are raising their voices to say: “No to war.” The unanswered question remains – will the powers that be listen to this democratic and moral call?

Iqbal Suleiman is a social justice lawyer and former head of the law clinic, Lawyers for Human Rights (Pretoria, South Africa). He is also a research associate with Media Review Network

(The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of Press TV)

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