January, 2026. Once again, large sections of the Iranian people have taken to the streets to protest against the oppression and anti-popular policies of the Iranian bourgeoisie, which have lowered the standard of living for the entire working population. Real wages have been kept at extremely low levels, while the cost of living has increased.
In the streets, they have been confrontedwith the state’s apparatus of violent repression, resulting in the loss of thousands of lives, while many more have been arrested. We therefore express our solidarity with the militant and courageous people of Iran, who are prepared to fight for their future.
In the razor-sharp imperialist competition, Iran plays an important role, and the imperialist great powers will fight tooth and nail to win the country—its market, its resources, and its assets—as well as the transport routes the country offers between East and West. For this reason, we also see several actors ready to attack Iran, above all the United States and Israel. Other actors are also present in the background, and all are attempting to push through their own interests. We therefore condemn every attempt to interfere in the affairs of the Iranian people, and we emphasize that it is only the Iranian people who can and must determine their own path of development.
In the bourgeois media, other figures are also being promoted in an attempt to portray credible alternatives to the current regime. Here we see how the former shah’s son, Reza Pahlavi, is given greater media space than during previous protests, and reports appear of demonstrations in support of him. The former flag, which was replaced during the revolution, is also in some places being presented as the official one, in an attempt to normalize Pahlavi and the Iranian monarchy as an alternative to the power of the mullahs. We therefore stress the importance of not choosing between the plague and cholera, neither the Iranian royal house’s power nor that of the mullahs. Although they struggle against one another, they represent at best different sides of the same coin: the power of capital, albeit with different orientations.
Since we know that the laws of capitalist development are forged in iron, we also know that neither the current regime nor the so-called alternative of the Iranian monarchy constitutes a possible path forward for the people. Capitalism will continue its development, no matter how it is dressed up, and the Iranian bourgeoisie will continue the exploitation of the working Iranian people. The struggle against the regime in Iran must therefore also be linked to the struggle for socialism—the only real alternative for the Iranian people.
We stand on the side of the Iranian people and of the future, and we therefore call upon the people to intensify their struggle and to make it independent of every side in the imperialist conflict. Only the people’s independent struggle, under the leadership of its communist party can show the way forward!
Communist Party of Sweden
