"Endless War" and the Perilous Future Facing Iran and the Middle East

Battalion Landing Team 3/5, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, conducting a maritime interception operation, July 16, 2026 -- public domain image

Via the Tudeh Party of Iran

Translated Excerpts from the Editorial of Nameh Mardom, issue no. 1265, published Monday 27 July 2026

The devastating war unleashed by the third act of aggression by United States-led imperialism against our homeland [in just over one year] has, over the past thirteen days, inflicted severe damage on the country. There is no doubt that, should this course continue unchecked, it will pose grave dangers for Iran's future and national sovereignty. Although, for reasons that remain unclear, US attacks on Iran have abated since Saturday [25 July 2026].

Hossein Kermanpour, head of the Public Relations and Information Centre of Iran's Ministry of Health, announced: "From the start of the US airstrikes on 27 June until 9:00am on 23 July, 629 people have been injured and 55 have been killed. Among the injured are 46 women and 24 children and adolescents under the age of 18, while the dead include 6 women and 3 children and adolescents under 18." In the latest wave of US military aggression against Iran, numerous cities, including Ahvaz, Bandar Abbas, Andimeshk, Omidieh, and Na'in, were heavily attacked by US military forces. The Iranian military announced that, in response to the latest US attacks, it had targeted several US military bases and facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan with missiles and drones.

These missile barrages and heavy aerial bombardments are inflicting serious damage on the country's civilian and economic infrastructure, the reconstruction of which will require years of work and massive investment. The war is also having a more devastating impact on the lives of tens of millions of Iranians, who are without electricity and water and are struggling to make ends meet. While media reports have referred to proposals by mediators for a ten-day ceasefire, Trump stated on Thursday 23 July that "Iran has not yet suffered enough" and that he was close to deciding on a "very large-scale attack" against Iran. Addressing the United Nations Security Council, António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, warned that the region had reached the "brink of an unimaginable" and highly dangerous precipice, adding that the course of the current military confrontation is rendering the political objectives of the war increasingly obscure.

Classic wars often begin when they have clearly stated political goals, in addition to economic benefits for the military-industrial complex and usually end when one side achieves all or a significant part of those goals or considers continuing the war futile and unprofitable. However, what is unfolding today between Iran, the US, and Israel bears little resemblance to such classical wars. Rather than a conventional military confrontation, it is increasingly an example of "unlimited" and multilateral warfare that blurs the boundaries between the battlefield, the economy, politics, and national security.

Such a wide-ranging conflict is no longer simply a war of missiles and aircraft. Economic sanctions, intelligence operations, cyberattacks, psychological warfare, targeted assassinations, the wanton destruction of civilian infrastructure, and diplomatic pressure have all become integrated instruments of a single conflict. Unlike the wars of previous centuries, moreover, the objective of contemporary warfare is not necessarily the conquest of territory and resources, but rather the gradual erosion of a state's capacity to govern and administer the country. To a considerable extent, what we are witnessing in Iran today conforms to precisely this pattern.

It should be emphasised, however, that the water crisis, electricity shortages, the deterioration of energy infrastructure, declining investment, the large-scale migration of skilled professionals, and intensive economic pressures in Iran are not solely the result of the recent war. Many of these problems began years ago. But war, like a powerful catalyst, has exposed and intensified all these accumulated shortcomings and weaknesses. A society that was already struggling with livelihood problems must now also bear the costs of an "unlimited" military and security confrontation. Abdolnasser Hemmati, Governor of the Central Bank of Iran, stated at the "Iran Economic Outlook 2026 Conference "that: "The country’s real per capita income, based on constant prices for 2021–2022, has declined from approximately 141 million Tomans in 2021 to around 75 million Tomans in 2025, which roughly equates to a halving in real per capita income over 13 years." This comes a month after Seyyed Mohammad Bathaei, Deputy Minister of Interior and Head of the Social Affairs Organisation, announced that "60%" of Iranian citizens could no longer "absorb"/"tolerate" any further economic pressure.

At the same time, signs of a rift within the power structure have become increasingly evident. Statements by some senior officials of the Islamic Republic in recent weeks, particularly the recent interview with Abbas Araghchi by Javad Moghoui in the programme "The Story of the War", and Araghchi's reference to the existence of "security gaps" within the country's intelligence, security, and governmental institutions, which he said played a major role in the assassination of political and military leaders of the Islamic Republic, and most likely still exist, have raised many questions about the state of security within the Islamic Republic. Araghchi's extensive interview, along with other material published online, including revelations by Javad Owji, the oil minister in the late President Raisi's government, regarding contact by Mossad with him before the explosion of Iran's gas pipelines, point to deep and extensive penetration by Israeli and US intelligence agencies into the highest levels of decision-making within the Islamic Republic. The most significant point here is not the precise content of these statements and allegations, but rather the fact that they have been publicly aired at all. This indicates that consensus within the ruling establishment over crisis management, threat assessment, and the country's overall future direction is no longer as solid as it once was. Amid continued clashes between different factions of the regime over whether to pursue negotiations with the US or to adopt the policy of double down on the old Khomeinist mantra of "War, War, Until Victory!", as well as the extensive propaganda attacks against Iran's negotiating team , the newspaper Entekhab reported that during Sunday's cabinet meeting, after Peyman Jebelli, the head of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) corporation, objected to a report by a senior government minister regarding the course of negotiations, the president [Mahmoud Pezeshkian] sharply reprimanded him. Notably, the Government Information Council issued a statement regarding the IRIB's subsequent censorship of the president's remarks, which made clear that: "The actionsof the IRIB in removing part of the speech of the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran at the National Industry and Mining Day ceremony, regarding the permission granted by the martyred leader of the Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei] for negotiations, a few days after the incomplete broadcast of the interview with the Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly (although the interview was fully broadcast the following day), and the censorship of part of the remarks of the head of the judiciary in support of the President, are examples of the unusual behaviour of this organisation [IRIB] towards the heads of the branches of government [in Iran]."

It is also important to note that the head of the IRIB is a direct appointee of the "Supreme Leader" of the regime[in which case he would be directly answerable to Mojtaba Khamenei]. If, under the current circumstances, as claimed by the government and President Pezeshkian, the entire ruling establishment is managing the affairs of the country under the Leader’s guidance “in unprecedented unity with one another,” under the guidance of the "Supreme Leader" then why does the said "Supreme Leader" take no action to dismiss the head of IRIB, who according to government spokespersons is allegedly "sowing the seeds of discord"? History has shown that many governments do not collapse as a result of a single major military defeat, but rather through the accumulation of small yet persistent crises that gradually erode the very foundations upon which they rest. When external pressure coincides with domestic discontent, economic difficulties, and political divisions, the capacity for effective decision-making gradually declines.

Since the beginning of the aggression by US imperialism and the criminal government of Israel against Iran, the Tudeh Party of Iran has consistently emphasised that the continuation of the devastating war imposed on Iran serves only the interests of imperialism, its regional allies, and the arms-manufacturing monopolies around the world. These forces seek the further degradation and destruction of Iran as well as the imposition of complete imperialist domination and hegemony over the region.

Beating the drums of war, while making exaggerated claims about the Islamic Republic's military and defensive capabilities and attacking those who advocate for negotiations, undoubtedly serves the interests of imperialist media and the propaganda agents of Netanyahu's genocidal and criminal government, which seek an "unlimited war" leading to the complete destruction of Iran. One of the most alarming aspects of the current situation is the absence of a clear prospect for ending the ongoing crisis. Neither the US has presented a clear definition of its objectives for continuing the war, nor has Iran offered a realistic picture of the conditions required to end this confrontation. As a result, there is a danger that the region may enter a period of permanent tension; a situation in which neither peace is established nor war brought to an end. In the meantime, vast resources and national wealth are squandered and the lives of millions of people are devastated, particularly under authoritarian governments such as that holding sway in Iran. This situation is not only dangerous for Iran; it threatens to push the entire West Asia region into a new cycle of insecurity and endless economic and political crises. Every military strike can destabilise energy markets; every intelligence operation may trigger a diplomatic crisis; and every miscalculation can increase the likelihood of a broader conflict. Perhaps the most important question today is not which side will emerge victorious from this war. The more fundamental question is which country will be able to withstand the pressures of a prolonged, exhausting, and "unlimited" war without seeing the foundations of its economic, social, and political systems collapse.

Perhaps the great mistake of many analysts is that they still measure war by 20th-century standards. In today's Middle East, war is no longer an event that begins and ends one day, but rather an ongoing process that drastically affects politics, the economy, security, and the daily lives of society. It is on this basis that we argue that the central question is no longer which side will achieve victory, but rather which country and society can endure such prolonged attrition without collapsing.

The Tudeh Party of Iran believes that the current situation has created extremely perilous conditions for Iran's future, which could seriously endanger the national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country going forward. The establishment of a nationwide movement for peace, opposing the aggressive policies of US imperialism and the criminal Israeli regime, as well as those forces within the Islamic Republic government that seek the continuation of war, is an urgent and unavoidable task. Tudeh Party members and other progressive and freedom-loving forces in the country can and must play an active role in this effort. In recent days, media reports stated that more than a thousand political activists, civil and social activists, cultural and academic figures, and journalists issued a statement titled "No to War; Yes to Peace, Negotiations, and National Interests!", correctly defending the necessity of continuing negotiations and diplomacy and reviving the existing memorandum of understanding between Iran and the US. Efforts must be duly undertaken to forge a nationwide peace movement in the Iran and linked across the world in order tobring real pressure to bear on the warmongers of today.

Editorial of "Nameh Mardom",

The Central Organ of the Tudeh Party of Iran,

No. 1265, 27 July 2026.