The events since 28th February, 2026 are not a series of separate conflicts but a single, coordinated war of aggression waged by the US led imperialist bloc, with Israel as its forward base, against the anti-US forces of West Asia. The US-Iran war, the Israeli assault on Lebanon, and the ongoing genocide in Gaza are all fronts in the same offensive, driven by the crisis of monopoly capital and its strategic need to crush any resistance that defies the dictates of the US hegemony.
Since 28th February, the joint US-Israeli forces have directly targeted Iranian civilian and military sites, with the Iranian Forensic Medicine Organization identifying 3,753 people killed and 22,800 wounded, the destruction of more than 81,000 civilian facilities, and the displacement of approximately 3.5 million people. The Health Ministry of Iran specified that the dead include more than 230 children and about 1,800 injured minors.
In Lebanon by 24 April, the cumulative toll from ongoing Israeli attacks had risen to 2,483 dead and 7,707 injured. Official health ministry data confirms that by mid-April the death toll included 165 children, 85 rescue workers, at least 88 health workers, and 195 injured in the line of duty. Six hospitals have been completely closed due to extensive damage. A US-brokered, 10 day ceasefire that took effect on 16 April was immediately exposed as a sham when Israel committed 220 violations in the first three days.
The genocide of the Palestinians continues unabated behind the cover of a ceasefire since October 2025. Between 12-18 April 2026, violent incidents surged by 46%, the highest weekly total since the truce began. Since the ceasefire, Israel has committed 2,400 documented violations, including killings, arrests, blockades, and deliberate starvation resulting in the deaths of 786 Palestinians and injuries to 2,217 others. The cumulative death toll since October 2023 now stands at over 72,000 killed, more than 172,000 wounded, and 90% of civilian infrastructure destroyed. The armed resistance of the popular forces aligned with Iran is not a violation of peace but the legitimate and lawful exercise of the right to resist occupation and imperialist domination.
These figures reveal not three wars, but a single system of slaughter, united by a common US strategy: destroy national infrastructure, displace civilians, impose blockades, and then offer fraudulent ceasefires that freeze the aggression in place. The US naval blockade of Iran, the Israeli buffer zone in southern Lebanon, and the strangulation of Gaza are different faces of the same policy which is the transformation of entire societies into unlivable spaces, designed to crush any resistance. The war does not remain confined to the battleground; it is exported directly into the kitchens and workplaces of the colonised world. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz has triggered an acute energy crisis that cascades through global supply chains, hitting the poorest nations the hardest.
The working class, especially in countries like India, bears the heaviest burden of this conflict. The disruption of energy supplies has triggered an LPG crisis causing cylinder prices to rise. In Surat’s textile sector alone, approximately 150,000 workers, around 30% of the workforce, have returned to their villages as factories reduce operations. In Morbi, a major ceramics hub, shutdowns and layoffs have left workers unable to afford basic necessities. Gulf countries contribute nearly 38% of India’s remittances from where more than 375,000 Indian workers have been repatriated by late March, with earlier waves numbering in the tens of thousands, adding further pressure on rural economies already unable to absorb this influx. Rising fuel and fertiliser prices, with urea increasing by about 30%, are placing additional pressure on farmers during a critical planting season. For now the government is subsidising oil prices with the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu elections in mind. Due to disruption in energy imports and falling remittances, the rupee slid to 94.8 per US dollar. Goldman Sachs has warned that India faces a combination of slower growth, higher inflation, and a weaker currency. If oil prices sustain at $100 per barrel, India’s GDP growth in FY27 could slow to 6.6%, that too based on murky government data.
The “All quiet on the Shipka Pass” response of the Indian government reflects a familiar pattern within the global capitalist order, a tendency to minimize crisis while its effects are borne by the working masses. Official statements talk about monitoring and control, pretending that the situation is stable and manageable. The reality shows otherwise.
This war on the people of Iran, Lebanon, and Palestine is an expression of the death throes of ‘moribund capitalism’ as termed by Comrade Lenin in his analysis of imperialism, the last stage of capitalism. The duty of every democratic person is to oppose this manslaughter in the name of claiming markets for and by the rotten US-imperialists.
