Smoke rises in Tehran following an Israeli airstrike, March 2, 2026. Photo courtesy nayaforiraqi/X.

On February 28, the United States and Israel launched a joint military assault on Iran that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and marked the start of a brazen campaign of regime change.

Three days into the assault, more than 780 Iranians have been killed, including 175 children at a primary school. Over 50 people in Lebanon have also died as Israel expands its war across the region, bombing Beirut. Gaza is once again under full blockade, with its borders closed to food and essential humanitarian supplies.

As bombs fall on the cities where my family lives in Iran, Donald Trump calls it an opportunity for Iranian freedom. Some in the diaspora have cheered, laying roses at US embassies. The former Shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, declared that Iranians were “forever in debt” to American service members.

I have marched in support of Iranian protesters fighting for freedom and liberation, and against the repression and corruption of the current regime. But we must not allow ourselves to be misled as two global imperial powers open a new front of war. Nor can we ignore the political machinery preparing the return of an American-backed monarch to replace Iran’s regime—the son of a king who repressed dissent, ruled for elites, suppressed regional resistance movements, and granted imperial access to Iran’s resources.

This assault was never about what Iranians deserve. If we truly stand for Iranian freedom and liberation, we must ask: Who can free Iran—its own people, foreign bombs, or a restored monarch?

Is this about freedom at all?

The US record of intervention makes clear that freedom, human rights, and alleged threats are repeatedly invoked to justify wars that serve American strategic interests.

From US military interventions in Guatemala to Chile to Iraq, promises of liberation have been followed by death, destruction, and foreign control. These interventions secured American strategic advantage and expanded Western capital interests. Trump’s pledge to redevelop a devastated Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East” is only the latest illustration. These wars do not benefit ordinary Americans; they drive up the cost of oil, food, and other essentials, while defence contractors and energy corporations reap the........

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