Overview
“Up to 18 Canadian military personnel were on exchange with [the] U.S. in Bahrain and Qatar at time of attack.”
“We all remember the catastrophic consequences of the illegal US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq – a country half the size of Iran – which displaced millions and killed over half a million people.”
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament Condemns US & Israeli Illegal Attacks on Iran (2026)
CND statement condemning the illegal US-Israeli attacks on Iran.1pm: CND protest at RAF Marham where we'll be calling on Britain to rule out the use of Diego Garcia. 3:30pm: Emergency demo at Downing Street. We encourage others to organise local protests this evening.
— Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (@cnduk.bsky.social) 2026-02-28T11:22:08.486Z
“These attacks are totally irresponsible and risk provoking further escalation as well as increasing the danger of nuclear proliferation and the use of nuclear weapons. Military action is not a viable or long-term solution to prevent nuclear proliferation. All military action must stop immediately.”
The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons condemns U.S. & Israeli attacks on Iran (2026)
“[The West’s] real struggle isn’t to protect us from weapons of mass destruction held by foreign evildoers, rather it’s to subject us to even greater domination and exploitation at their own hands.”
The Downward Spiral of Militarism, by K. C. Sinclair (2025)
“The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists over the weekend said 1,190 people had been killed according to data collected by the agency’s network of medical and local volunteers.”
Iran raises death toll from war with Israel to more than 900, by Associated Press (2025)
“But no state is entitled to use justice for Iranians as a pretext for advancing its own ambitions for domination…”
Canada must not be complicit in Israel’s war on Iran, by Amir Khadir (2025)
“Talking about military AI shifts the focus from the social relations between people to the technologies used to implement them, a mystification which misdirects focus and propagates invincibility.”
“We share the view of fallen Black freedom fighter and Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr. that ‘The greatest purveyor of violence in the world: my own government.'”
“The Greatest Purveyor of Violence”: Black Rose Statement on U.S. Aggression Against Iran (2020)
“As matters turned out, the overthrow of [Iranian Prime Minister] Mossadegh in August 1953 was much more an American operation than a British one.”
Iran 1953: Making it Safe for the King of Kings, by William Blum (1995/2004)
“Events in Persia have moved with a rapidity which has startled political commentators.”
New Phase in Oil Struggles, by Freedom (1953)
“The revelations about the ‘democratic’ States’ construction and ultimate employment of the two atomic bombs that alone caused the deliberate murdering of several hundred thousands of innocent men, women and children — ought to dispel once and for all time any illusion that the common man ever held of the ‘democratic’ State having any more regard for human life and welfare than the fascist, nazi or bolshevist State.”
Mankind and the State, by Marcus Graham (1946)
Intro
Upon Israel’s attacks against Iran in 2025, the Group of Seven (G7), including Canada, as well as their junior partner, Ukraine, made public statements supporting the aggressor and condemning the attacked regime. When America followed up with its own airstrikes, Canada and Ukraine announced their support for that aggression too and reiterated their condemnation of Iran.
At first glance this might appear odd given the massive support Canada and the rest of the West have given to Ukraine in response to Russia’s aggression, but in historical context it was fully in keeping with the West’s actions in the Middle East. For Ukraine’s part, it has a history of offering political support to Israel, importing Israeli weaponry, exporting its own weaponry to repressive regimes like that of Saudi Arabia (and Myanmar), and participating in the Western-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan in the 2000s.
For the West and Ukraine, the issue is not that attacking and occupying other countries is wrong, it’s only that the right countries should be the ones doing it and getting away with it. This is something that we’ve seen since the end of World War II, with the West’s continuous support for the Israeli invasion and occupation of Palestine, something that has roots that extend back to the division of the colonies among the Western empires at the end of WWI, and before that too.
The West’s ongoing support despite the intensity of Israel’s attacks on Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen and Syria clearly emboldened Israel (and America) to assault Iran. What was to stop them from attacking again?
Predictably, Canada and Ukraine, imperialist countries that they are, have now announced their support for America and Israel’s newest assaults on Iran. Every day it becomes clearer that we can’t rely on underdog nation-states to save us from Western imperialism. The only question is, will we face up to the facts, no matter how grim the unfolding reality in front of us?
-Ed., Feb.28.2026/Jun.19.2025
Context
In reverse chronology
“‘It is important that the United States is acting decisively [against Iran]’ Zelenskyy [the President of Ukraine] said in his video address on Saturday.”
“After Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Ukraine became by far the top recipient of U.S. foreign aid, the first time that a European country held the top spot since the Marshall Plan directed vast sums to rebuild the continent after World War II.”
“…11 Canadian Army members were trained on the missile systems at Rafael’s facilities in Israel from July 7 to 25, 2024.”
“Israel is also a leading buyer of U.S. weapons systems via traditional arms sales.”
U.S. Aid to Israel in Four Charts, by the Council on Foreign Relations (2025/2024)
“In just three days, Israel has carried out strikes in Palestine, Lebanon, Syria, Tunisia, Qatar and Yemen.”
Israel has attacked six countries in the past 72 hours, by Marium Ali and Alia Chughtai (2025)
“Europe and the west’s double standards over the wars in Ukraine and Gaza threaten to undermine its global standing, the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, has warned, describing the response to Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory as one of the darkest episodes of international relations in the 21st century.”
“We value the bond between our nations and remain committed to strengthening our ties across various sectors,” the Ukrainian leader said.
“On September 22, 2023, Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian‑Canadian veteran of the Waffen‑SS Galicia Division, received a standing ovation in the Canadian Parliament.”
How Nazi Collaborators Are Celebrated in Wartime Ukraine, by Marta Havryshko (2025)
“Western countries must criticise Israel’s actions in Gaza or risk losing credibility when trying to win over the rest of the world on Russia’s war in Ukraine, according to Norway’s foreign minister.”
“Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on July 23 to discuss expanding bilateral cooperation and launching a new joint security dialogue, with a strong focus on addressing the growing threat posed by Iran and its alignment with Russia.”
“…legal experts widely dispute this justification. Given the lack of evidence of an imminent attack by Iran, experts argue that Israel’s use of force violated Article 2(4) of the Charter of the United Nations and therefore was unlawful and amounts to the crime of aggression.”
Israel’s Illegal War on Iran, by Canadians for Justice and Peace in the Middle East (2025)
On June 25, 2025, Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Member of Ukraine’s Parliament and (cynically) the President of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, praised nuclear-armed Israel for attacking Iran and supposedly protecting human rights (Palestinians, Iranians and Afghan refugees in Iran apparently don’t count as human to him.) When subsequently interviewed by The Times of Israel about this speech, Goncharenko doubled-down, saying he could only assess Israel’s fight against Palestine “in the most positive terms,” and that he sees Israel and Ukraine as “fighting together against the global axis of evil” that includes Iran.
-Ed.
“SAIB [Stop Arming Israel Belgium] says Francken’s and Versluys’ responses ‘instrumentalise’ the war in Ukraine. ‘OIP is 100% controlled by Elbit, Israel’s largest private arms company. Every euro goes to fund a group up to its neck in genocide in Gaza and apartheid in the occupied territories […] We can support the Ukrainian people without collaborating in the genocide of the Palestinian people.'”
“In the immediate term, we must respond by unequivocally condemning the Israeli aggression and the US declaration of war, and we must do so without concession to any phony equivalence that ascribes blame to both sides.”
The Iranian people are confronted by enemies within and enemies without, by Amir Khadir (2025)
“These attacks, carried out by a nuclear-armed state against a non-nuclear signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), set a dangerous precedent.”
Statement on the U.S. Bombing of Iranian Nuclear Facilities, by Project Ploughshares (2025)
“Military action is not a viable or long-term solution to prevent nuclear proliferation.”
“Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said on June 22 that Iran’s nuclear program must be dismantled to prevent it from threatening the Middle East or the wider world, following U.S. air strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.”
“She said she believed those who refused her entry to the shelter recognised her and knew that she worked at the local clinic – but turned her away anyway. She was wearing her medical uniform at the time.”
Palestinian nurse denied entry to Israeli bomb shelter by patients, by Lubna Masarwa (2025)
“It’s a long and complicated history, but let’s start in 1951 — when tensions between Iranians and foreign powers influencing the country first start to bubble.”
The US-Iran conflict: A timeline of how we got here, by CNN (2025/2020)
Editorial note: Perhaps it should go without saying that CNN is a source fully aligned with American imperialism and any use of its work as a reference point should be taken with a grain or two of salt.
“As the world focuses on Israel’s war with Iran, violence against Palestinians has scaled up in the occupied territories.”
Israel massacres in Gaza, locks down West Bank as attention shifts to Iran, by Al Jazeera (2025)
“The US-led invasion of Iraq followed soon after, but no weapons of mass destruction were found.”
Imminent threat for more than 30 years, by Al Jazeera (2025)
“But unlike Iran, Israel has not signed the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty], and is one of only five countries not to be party to the 1968 treaty. This means that the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] has no way to monitor or verify Israel’s nuclear arsenal.”
What do we know about Israel’s own nuclear weapons?, by Rayhan Uddin (2025)
“Israeli air strikes on Tehran have disrupted daily life, killing civilians and fuelling fears of a wider regional war.”
The human toll of attacks on Iran, by Al Jazeera (2025)
“And in common with most Palestinian-majority towns, Tamra does not have a single underground shelter. Like much else in Israel, there is nothing equal about the way death comes from the sky.”
“It also accuses civilians in Gaza of celebrating ‘atrocities’, appearing to justify Israel’s indiscriminate war against the Gaza Strip, which has so far killed over 55,000 civilians.”
Ukraine publishes history book that portrays Israel as ‘victim’, by The New Arab (2025)
“Spending by the nuclear armed states – China, France, India, Israel, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia, the UK and US – increased by nearly $10 billion from 2023 with the private sector earning at least $42.5 billion from their nuclear weapons contracts.”
“Kyiv on June 13 expressed concern over the security situation in the Middle East after Israeli air strikes against Iran, but stressed that Tehran remains a ‘source of problems’ in the region ‘and beyond.'”
“In total, 164 export permits were used by Canadian companies to ship military goods to Israel, making it the third-most popular non-U.S. destination for Canadian suppliers last year.”
Canada Sold $18.9 Million Of Military Goods To Israel, Despite ‘Pause’, by Alex Cosh (2025)
“The current wars of occupation in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, in addition to the recent anti-colonial uprising in Kanaky (New Caledonia), make revolutionary defeatism more topical than ever.”
Anarchism and Revolutionary Defeatism, by K. C. Sinclair (2025)
“Under the agreement, the US government will distribute the propellant to both Ukraine and Israel.”
Canada under Contract to Supply the IDF with Artillery Propellant, by Kelsey Gallagher (2025)
“The standing ovation accorded to a Second World War Ukrainian Nazi unit veteran in Canada’s House of Commons in the autumn of 2023 shocked Canadians—and the world.”
“As Ukraine continues to fight its war against the Russian invasion, we understand the deep pain experienced by Israel. We also know what it means to face an enemy whose intention is to destroy our people, our values, and our way of life”
A letter to Israel from Ukraine, by Ukraine’s ambassador to Israel (2024)
“Contrary to the contested use of depleted uranium (DU) weapons following the Iraq war in 2003, which led some nations to seek a ban on DU use and even eliminate their existing arsenals, there is now a growing tendency both toward the use and production of DU weapons, rendering such weapons as ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable.'”
“I have witnessed armored vehicles identical to the ones here in the parking lot at Roshel being used to kidnap my family members and my friends in the West Bank more times than I can count,” said Adham with PYM-Toronto.
Editorial note: This article doesn’t mention it, but Roshel has been extensively supplying Ukraine as well.
“‘Israel and Ukraine have a common enemy, and this enemy is Iran,’ the head of the Israeli Foreign Ministry was quoted as saying by the Maariv news agency.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister discusses regional and global threats with Israeli counterpart (2024)
“Compared to the political maneuvering needed to skirt South Korean arms transfer laws and undermine Pakistani democracy, a third major source of 155mm shells was comparatively straightforward: for decades, the United States has ‘prepositioned’ large stockpiles of weapons in Israel and, in early 2023, it transferred 300,000 155mm shells from this reserve to Ukraine.”
Imperialism’s Shell Game, by Darryl Li (2024)
“The companies listed here have provided Israel with weapons and other military equipment used in its attacks on Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, and Syria since October 2023.”
Companies Profiting from the Gaza Genocide, by the Action Center for Corporate Accountability (2024)
“U.S.-led naval forces seized the weapons and ammunition from four stateless ships sailing the waters of the Middle East from 2021 to 2023, the statement said.”
Seized weapons meant for Houthis transferred by US to Ukraine, by Stars and Stripes (2024)
“Israel has long targeted Iran’s military installations in Syria and those of its proxies but Monday’s attack was the first time it had targeted the embassy compound itself.”
Israel strikes Iran consulate in Syria’s capital Damascus, by Al Jazeera (2024)
“…Canadian troops stationed in Latvia took delivery of a rush order of the Israeli-made Spike LR2 anti-tank system.”
“As can be seen, the vast majority of Ukrainians – 69% – sympathize with Israel. Only 1% sympathize with Palestine. At the same time, 18% of respondents answered that they sympathize with both sides equally. The remaining 12% could not decide on their opinion.”
“For many years he [Martin Hunka, son of Nazi veteran Yaroslav Hunka] worked diligently at the headquarters of Redpath Mining Corporation, one of the leading underground mining companies in the world and the largest in North Bay.”
How did SS Veteran End Up in Canadian Parliament?, by Andriy Movchan (2023)
“Depleted uranium is a byproduct of the uranium enrichment process needed to create nuclear weapons.”
A look at the uranium-based ammunition the US is sending to Ukraine, by Tara Copp (2023)
Israel’s recoilless grenade weapon, the RGW 90 (MATADOR), was purchased by Ukraine on the strength of it having been field-tested against Gazans in 2009.
“Ukraine’s 12-year deal to buy enough uranium from Canadian miner Cameco Corp to power all of its nuclear reactors gives each side the right to change sales volumes with two years’ notice, the Ukrainian state-owned utility Energoatom told Reuters.”
Ukraine’s nuclear deal with Canada’s Cameco carries big risks, rewards, by Reuters (2023)
“Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky encouraged world leaders to visit Israel in a show of solidarity with its people and to deter further aggression, saying it can ‘help save your nation.'”
“Since Saturday, Mr. Zelensky has spoken daily in support of Israel…”
Zelensky Says Gaza War Furthers Russian Aims, by Matthew Mpoke Bigg (2023)
On Ukraine’s purchase, licensing and use of Israeli Tavor assault rifles, by The Armourer’s Bench (2022)
“In comments to local media posted on the president’s official website on Tuesday, Zelenskyy stressed that his vision for Ukraine’s post-conflict future included having armed forces in ‘all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons’.”
Zelenskyy says wants Ukraine to become a ‘big Israel’, by Al Jazeera (2022)
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken delivery of a batch of Ukrainian-made Kozak-5 armored vehicles manufacturer Practika company.”
Saudi Arabia receives Kozak-5 armored vehicles from Ukraine, by Dylan Malyasov (2021)
“In the decades since that fateful July morning in 1945, at least eight nations have carried out an estimated total of 2,056 nuclear tests – around one-quarter of them in the atmosphere – causing long-term harm to human health and the environment”
The Human Cost of Nuclear Testing, by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (2021)
“So regardless of whether the US escalation with Iran triggers a ground conflict or leads to an occupation, it represents another step towards a US foreign policy that presumes and hastens a future of global civil war.”
Against All Wars, Against All Governments: Understanding the US-Iran War, by CrimethInc (2020)
Editorial note: More recently, CrimethInc republished a statement by Roja, “an independent leftist-feminist collective based in Paris, comprised of comrades from Iran,” equating the Israeli settler colonial regime’s fraudulent claims to self-defense with those of the Iranian regime, without ever even mentioning the Israeli airstrike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria, on April 1, 2024, nor the American airstrike assassination of Iranian major general Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020, nor the American-backed coup of 1953. In this way, Israel and America’s responsibility for their own actions is displaced onto the Iranian regime, as is also the case later in the same statement, where Roja absurdly blames Iran for “diverting public attention from Gaza, which facilitated the Israeli operation against Rafah,” and for the US vetoing “UN recognition of Palestine as a state.” Opposition to the Iranian regime does not really require absolving Israel and the US of their actions. Such politics are simply imperialist campism, in this case, for the camp of the West.
-Ed. (2025)
“…Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Interior has received [a] batch of [the] newest Skif and Corcar anti-tank guided weapon systems from Ukraine through [the] state-owned company ‘Progress’.”
Saudi Arabia receives modern Ukrainian guided weapon systems, by Dylan Malyasov (2018)
The Specificity of Imperialism, by Salar Mohandesi (2018)
“There must be a way to think about earth and land and being that would make the idea of nuclear weapons impossible. And to think of the waters as well.”
The Irradiated International, by Lou Cornum (2018)
“In 1985, while Iran and Iraq were at war, Iran made a secret request to buy weapons from the United States.”
The Iran-Contra Affair, by PBS (2017)
“The US is going to provide lethal anti-tank weapons to Ukraine to help it fight off separatists which have the backing of Russia, a senior State Department official told CNN”
“Yet Israel and South Africa broke the rules, but they did not face consequences.”
Why an apparent Israeli nuclear test in 1979 matters today, by Leonard Weiss (2015)
“Canada will join a training mission to help Ukraine’s military in its struggle against Russian-backed rebels, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Tuesday, following months of requests for assistance from Ukraine’s government.”
Ukraine crisis: Canada sending 200 trainers for Ukraine military, by CBC (2015)
“Ukraine exported major conventional arms worth $1.344 billion in 2012 becoming the fourth largest arms exporter in the world, according to the data published by Stockholm International Peace Research.”
Ukraine world’s 4th largest arms exporter in 2012, according to SIPRI, by Interfax-Ukraine (2013)
“To research a possible link between US bombardment and rates of birth defects and pediatric cancer in Iraq is a moral imperative”
The victims of Fallujah’s health crisis are stifled by western silence, by Ross Caputi (2012)
“Most Canadians still proudly believe that their government refused to join the Iraq War. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Canada’s secret war in Iraq, by Richard Sanders (2008)
“What the Reagan administration did do to aid the war effort of Iraq was to share key battlefield intelligence, intelligence gleaned from satellite photos own by the United States with the Iraqis. And the US made available to Iraq hundreds of millions of dollars in food credits that permitted Baghdad to spend the revenues it might have needed for importing food on weapons.”
U.S. Links to Saddam During Iran-Iraq War, by Alex Chadwick and Mike Shuster (2005)
“Ukrainian troops surrendered the eastern [Iraqi] city of Kut to Shia militants yesterday, abandoning civilian officials, including 13 Britons who escaped under fire, coalition sources said.”
Shia militia takes city as Ukrainians flee, by The Telegraph (2004)
“Two Ukrainian soldiers were wounded on Monday when clashes erupted between Ukrainian forces and Iraqi police on one side and demonstrators demanding jobs, our correspondent reported.”
Ukrainian troops hurt in Iraq job riot, by Al Jazeera (2004)
“During this period a ‘record number of defections’ from Western imperialism occurred: Ethiopia in 74, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, leading up to Grenada, Nicaragua, & Iran in 79, & Zimbabwe in 1980.”
Against Imperialism: International Solidarity and Resistance, by Endless Struggle (1990)
“La question des libertés et la lutte contre la dictature sont ainsi liées, dans leur moment d’origine, à la question de l’indépendance nationale. Combattre le despotisme est une nécessité interne à la lutte anti-coloniale ou anti-impérialiste.”
Critique et Passion de la Révolution Iranienne, par Zahrâ Salmân (1983)
“Nuclear weapons development is not only a product of the military complex’s continual momentum to expand and build new weapons systems, but is also the final solution to the threat that Third World liberation movements pose to American and Soviet imperialism.”
How We See It, by the Vancouver Five (1983)
“Guided by Indian representatives from the National Indian Youth Council (NIYC), they saw the largest open pit uranium mine in the world, the Jackpile mine on the Laguna reservation, where Native American miners are on strike for a new contract.”
Japanese Delegation Supports U.S. Anti-Nuclear Movement, by Tom Barry (1978)
“Since 1945, the American government has devoted the better part of our national energies to preparations for wholesale human extermination.”
The Morals of Extermination, by Lewis Mumford (1959)
“While the whole world writhes in a spasm of madness, let us in America be mad with a method, mad with a purpose. Let us say No to the atomic bomb rather than say No to life itself.”
Gentlemen, You Are Mad, by Lewis Mumford (1946)
“So the conclusion is that, for an anarchist, the primary enemy is the oppressor who is closest to him, and against whom he can fight more effectively.”
Our Foreign Policy, by Errico Malatesta (1914)
“Isn’t imperialism derived from patriotism and militarism? These constitute the warp and woof from which the fabric of imperialism is woven.”
Imperialism: Monster of the Twentieth Century, by Kōtoku Shūsui (1901)
Also
Anarchists & Fellow Travellers on Palestine
The April Uprising in Iraq (2004)
Long Live Free Algeria!, by the Federation Communiste Libertaire (1954)
The Lebanon Crisis, by War Commentary (1943)
Refusal/Desertion (If We Must Fight, Let’s Fight for the Most Glorious Nation, Insubordination)
