Imperialist tendencies, the Israel-Iran war, the bloody design of the Middle East
A new bloody chapter began in the Middle East, caught between imperialism and reactionary forces, on 13 June. The attack on Iran is a sign of how blind Israel has become.
The war that began with Israel's attack on Iran on 13 June has opened the door to a new era in the Middle East. Although the timing of the attack was surprising, it was not unexpected. After all, Israel's war machine had frequently stated that Iran would be next in line after Gaza, Lebanon and Syria.
Seizing the opportunity presented by the Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, Israel has since moved to redesign the entire Middle East in line with imperialist-Zionist interests. Essentially a security state, Israel is pursuing a comprehensive security policy against Iran. The military-security policy it began implementing against Iran in 2018 is based on the ‘octopus doctrine.’
THE OCTOPUS DOCTRINE
Formulated by Naftali Bennett, then Israel's defence minister and later prime minister, the doctrine involves targeting the ‘octopus’ itself (Iran) rather than its arms (allies) in the region. However, in order to reach the head, the arms must also be cut off. Israel, which successively brought down Hamas, Hezbollah and the Assad regime, began to directly target Iran after achieving its goals in a short period of 12 months.
In recent years, it has sought to take its war with Iran deeper into the country's heartland within the framework of this doctrine. The assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last August and the extensive missile strikes are all elements of this doctrine.
THE RISING LION ATTACK
The attack named ‘Rising Lion’ by the Netanyahu administration is also based on this strategy. The attack that opened Pandora's box is a new phase in the attempt to redesign the Middle East with imperialist guns. The first act of this new bloody scene of the American-led Greater Middle East Project (BOP) opened on 7 October. After Hamas and Hezbollah were removed from the equation, the second act opened in Syria on 27 November and was completed in a short period of time, on 8 December. The 13 June attack on Iran is the first and, depending on the situation, perhaps the last stage of the third phase of the BOP.
The Tel Aviv administration, equipped with extreme right-wing figures, is pursuing the creation of regimes and governments in the Middle East that are compatible with imperialism and Zionism. The ultimate goal of the Greater Middle East Project (GME) is to redesign the region around US-Israeli interests. The obstacles to this plan are being removed one by one. While Palestine, Lebanon and Syria are being transformed in this context, the biggest obstacle facing Israel, which wants to turn the region into a ‘thornless rose garden’ for itself, is to overcome the Iranian barrier.
With the takeover of Syria on 8 December by the fundamentalists led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), supported by Israel, the United States and the Gulf countries, an important threshold was crossed in the Middle East. However, this was not enough; Iran must be eliminated at all costs in the project to redesign the Middle East in line with American imperialism and Israeli interests.
Netanyahu, who has even been declared a ‘war criminal’ by the International Criminal Court, is not acting so recklessly without reason. There are many factors at play here. The most important of these is the political climate created by the international geopolitical equation. The second is the Trump effect, which is seeking to expand territory and has even set its sights on Canada and Greenland. The third is the war in Ukraine. The ‘capture’ of Russia through the Ukraine crisis and China through the Taiwan crisis has given Netanyahu the opportunity he was looking for, with the backing of the Western hegemonic powers.
EMPERIALIST GAMES
This is not just an Israel-Iran war. Israel's attack cannot be viewed independently of the new directions of imperialism. This is precisely why the US is positioned at the very centre of the war. Using Israel as its gendarme in the Middle East, the US is seeking to transform the region in line with its own interests, with this country at the forefront. Even though American imperialism is shifting its centre of gravity to the Indo-Pacific, it wants to shape the Middle East, the world's energy reservoir, through political Islamists and Israel. It is this imperialist interventionism that has brought the Middle East to boiling point. Trump's threats against Iran, the deployment of warplanes and ships, and unlimited support for Tel Aviv are concrete manifestations of this collaboration.
ISLAMISTS AS ACCOMPLICES
Political Islamists are accomplices in the imperialist-Zionist alliance. Although Israel is the spearhead of the destruction project imposed on the Middle East by the US under the BOP, the project was implemented through political Islamist regimes in the region, including Turkey.
Political Islamist regimes that are in line with Israel and imperialism have played the role of pawns in the imperialist game in the region, from the destruction in Libya to Syria, from Yemen to Iraq, and from Palestine to Lebanon. And Islamists contributed to the removal of the ‘obstacles’ in the way of imperialism. Ankara, Doha and Riyadh were as involved as Tel Aviv and the US in handing Syria over to the fundamentalist HTŞ.
A new bloody chapter began in the Middle East, caught between imperialism and reactionary forces, on 13 June. The attack on Iran is a sign of how blind Israel has become. They have shown that they will not hesitate to set the entire region ablaze in order to transform the Middle East in line with their own interests. The course of this dangerous war, launched to bring the Middle East under control as a whole and integrate it into the imperialist system, depends on Trump, that is, the attitude of American imperialism.
This new battlefield of the BOP is poised to bring about destruction on an unprecedented scale. Taking a clear stance against the attacks and schemes of imperialists and Zionists, and standing with the people of Iran and the Middle East, is an urgent task.
Note: This article is translated from the original article titled “Emperyalist yönelimler, İsrail-İran savaşı, Ortadoğu’nun kanlı dizaynı” published in BirGün newspaper on June 19, 2025.
