The aggression by the US and Israel on February 28, which has since intensified, has led to the martyrdom of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, as well at least 1,255 Iranians killed so far, including 165 schoolgirls in the city of Minab. In response to this unprompted criminal US/Israeli aggression while US-Iran negotiations had been ongoing, Iran has conducted a devastating and precisely co-ordinated military campaign.

In just 14 days, Iran's defensive military response True Promise 4 to the US/Israeli war of aggression has continued to hit the core of US power in the Persian Gulf, from Qatar's Al-Udeid Air Base to the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and its genocidal ally Israel. Iran has featured the deployment of hundreds of missiles, including ballistic and hypersonic variants, together with attack drones in some 40 waves to date against numerous US and Israeli targets throughout the region.

Web of US military bases in the Persian Gulf

As Iranian reports say, to fully grasp the magnitude of Iran's defensive military achievements, one must first understand the intricate web of US military power that has for decades strangled the Persian Gulf region [1]. At the apex of this system sits Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar. A sprawling facility covering approximately fifty square kilometres south-west of Doha, it stands as the largest American military installation in the entire West Asia and the forward headquarters of United States Central Command. Al-Udeid is the cornerstone of US military strategy in the region, housing over ten thousand personnel and supporting the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing. Its formidable array of bombers, fighter aircraft, surveillance platforms, and drones has, for years, been the launchpad for aggressive operations against regional nations.

Demonstration in London opposing the attack on Iran, March 7, 2026

Around 150 miles from Al-Udeid lies Al-Dhafra Air Base in the United Arab Emirates. This installation complements its Qatari counterpart by providing the United States with advanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities. Al-Dhafra hosts approximately five thousand active-duty US military personnel assigned to the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing. Their primary missions include aerial refuelling and high-altitude intelligence gathering, utilising platforms such as the Lockheed U-2 Dragon Lady, the Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS, and the RQ-4 Global Hawk surveillance drones - aircraft that have routinely violated Iranian airspace along the Persian Gulf coast.

In Bahrain, the Naval Support Activity in Manama serves as the headquarters for both US Naval Forces Central Command and the United States Fifth Fleet. Supporting over nine thousand military personnel and more than one hundred tenant commands, this facility, established on the grounds of the former British Royal Navy base HMS Juffair, provides the logistical and command infrastructure necessary for the Fifth Fleet to project power throughout the region with its carrier strike groups and supporting vessels.

Kuwait hosts yet another crucial node. Camp Arifjan serves as the primary forward logistics hub for American ground forces, while Ali Al-Salem Air Base hosts the 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, and Mohammed Al-Ahmad Naval Base provides critical naval infrastructure.

This was the fortress America had built, a ring of steel and fire meant to contain and intimidate Iran and the countries of the Persian Gulf and West Asia. And this is the US/Israeli fortress that Iran has shattered.

The Response True Promise 4

Arifjan is a major U.S. Army installation in Kuwait, serving as a forward logistics and operational hub for U.S. and coalition forces in the Middle East

According to multiple reports and within hours of the initial wave of aggression, the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) launched Operation True Promise 4, "a meticulously planned retaliation that simultaneously targeted more than a dozen American military installations across the region".

At Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar, Iranian missiles struck with devastating precision. Their impacts were captured on video and broadcast by multiple news agencies. The most significant achievement was the complete destruction of the AN/FPS-132 Upgraded Early Warning Radar, a system valued at approximately $1.1 billion that served as the electronic eye of American air defence throughout the Persian Gulf.

This fixed UHF phased-array radar, designed to detect and continuously track ballistic missiles at extremely long ranges, represented the most critical component of the US early warning architecture in West Asia. Its obliteration rendered the entire American air defence network effectively blind, forcing surviving batteries to operate with degraded situational awareness and dramatically reducing their effectiveness against subsequent Iranian strikes.

Simultaneously, Iranian missiles and kamikaze drones descended upon Al-Dhafra Air Base in the UAE, destroying the American terrorists' air warfare centre, satellite communication centre, early warning radars, and fire control radars, effectively decapitating the base's command and control capabilities.

The Lockheed U-2 reconnaissance aircraft, Boeing E-3 Sentry AWACS, and RQ-4 Global Hawk drones found themselves without the supporting infrastructure necessary for their operations. Their hangars were damaged or destroyed, their crews scrambling to survive the onslaught.

The strikes extended to the naval infrastructure. At Jebel Ali Port in Dubai, which is the most frequent port of call for US Navy vessels outside the American homeland, Iranian missiles caused significant damage to facilities used for resupplying and maintaining the Fifth Fleet's warships.

In Bahrain, the headquarters of the United States Fifth Fleet came under direct attack, with multiple missiles and kamikaze drones striking the Naval Support Activity facility.

Video clips captured the moment of impact as projectiles struck buildings within the base complex, including a high-rise structure housing American troops.

The IRGC announced that a service centre for the Fifth Fleet had been specifically targeted, and subsequent attacks on March 1 would hit an unnamed US naval command and backup centre with two ballistic missiles.

Kuwait's American installations suffered perhaps the most complete destruction. Ali Al-Salem Air Base, struck on February 28, came under renewed attack on March 1.

The IRGC subsequently declared that the base had been rendered completely out of service. This facility, home to the US Air Force's 386th Air Expeditionary Wing, was effectively neutralised as a military asset: its runways cratered, its hangars destroyed, its aircraft either damaged or forced to flee. The Mohammed Al-Ahmad Naval Base suffered an equally devastating fate, with three naval infrastructure structures reportedly destroyed. In a matter of hours, the elaborate fortress America had spent decades building had been shattered.

Iran's True Promise 4 response to Israel

The "Western" media continues to implement the Israeli regime's censorship hiding the effects of Iran's defensive response on Israel itself. There has been considerable damage by Iran's 44 waves of True Promise 4 missiles and drones on Israel and Tel Aviv itself, aiming to destroy the Israeli regime's military capacity and infrastructure. This has itself been unprecedented and devastating.

The effectiveness could already be seen when on Thursday, March 12, Press TV reported [2]:

"Iran's Army says its operations against Israeli military infrastructure are becoming easier and more precise after parts of the regime's radar network were destroyed, as a new wave of drone strikes hit key bases and security facilities. Iranian forces launched a fresh round of drone operations against strategic Israeli targets on Thursday, striking the Palmachim Airbase, Ovda Airbase, and a major facility of the Shin Bet internal security service near Tel Aviv, according to an official military statement.

"Army spokesman Brigadier General Akraminia said the destruction of sections of the enemy's radar infrastructure has significantly improved operational conditions for Iranian forces. 'With the elimination of part of the enemy's radar facilities at sensitive centres, continuing the operations has become easier and we now have better access to important and sensitive points,' he said. 'Operations are becoming more precise day by day.'"

The Press TV report continued: "According to the Army's statement, Iranian loitering drones targeted the control tower, runway, and aircraft hangars at Palmachim and Ovda airbases on Thursday. Palmachim, located near Tel Aviv, serves as a key hub for the Israeli regime's satellite launches and missile testing programmes. The base also hosts missile defence systems such as David's Sling and Hermes-900 drones. The Ovda Airbase, another strategic facility, functions as a major training base for the Israeli air force. The site has also hosted American F-22 fighter jets.

London demonstration confronting the US Embassy, March 7 2026

"Iranian drones also struck the headquarters of the Shin Bet, which operates as the operational heart of the regime's internal security apparatus, coordinating security operations and protection of senior officials and sensitive installations."

Among previous reports, there is one which shows that Iran also targeted Bir as-Sab (Beersheba) in southern Israel, scoring a direct hit on the Israeli army's communication complex located there. Microsoft and other Israeli companies engaged in Israeli military operations in Gaza and beyond were also struck in Bir as-Sab.

In Iran itself a report last Saturday said: "Since the beginning of the aggression by the American-Zionist enemy, the number of drones shot down by the defence systems of the Army and the IRGC has reached 82." The statement came as reports published in domestic media suggested that Iranian armed forces had also managed to down several foreign jets trying to enter the country's airspace from neighbouring Kuwait.

As we write, Iranian defensive operations are ongoing in response to the continued criminal US/Israeli bombing and aggression. The news reports also point out that "the Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have also joined the front against the external aggressors on Iran and Lebanon, inflicting heavy blows on the enemy". Latest information on March 10 and 13 gives details of True Promise 4's 34th, 35th and 44th waves [3]. Iranian armed forces have so far carried out 44 waves of missile and drone strikes with advanced weaponry targeting Israeli military facilities in the occupied territories, as well as US occupation bases and assets scattered across the West Asia region.

The new Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah, Seyyed Mojtaba Khamenei, issued his first message on March 12, stressing unity and the Iranian people's "determined and regret-inducing" defence efforts and asserting that the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed. "The will of the people is to continue effective defence," he said, "and their presence on the scene must be maintained."

Notes
1. Op. True Promise 4: Iran's missile blitzkrieg dismantles US war machine in West Asia - Press TV, Ivan Kesic, March 10
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/03/10/765211/op-true-promise-iran-missile-blitzkrieg-dismantles-us-war-machine-west-asia
2. Iran Army launches drone operation, says radar collapse makes Israeli targets easier to hit - Press TV, March 12
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/03/12/765286/Iran-Army-launches-drone-operation-says-radar-collapse-makes-Israeli-targets-easier-to-hit
3. True Promise 4: Iran and resistance axis ops. against US-Israeli assets on March 10, Press TV
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/03/10/765225/true-promise-4-iran-resistance-axisops-against-us-israeli-assets-march-10
IRGC hits Israeli military sites, US bases in major offensive, March 13, Press TV
https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2026/03/13/765317/IRGC-hits-Israeli-military-sites-US-bases-in-major-offensive

Israel strikes southern Lebanon

The Lebanese Hezbollah resistance movement and the Islamic Resistance in Iraq have joined the front against the external aggressors. Hezbollah's operations have been primarily focused on Israeli military sites in the occupied territories. Its operations are both in response to the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and the relentless ceasefire violations by the Israeli regime over the past year.

In the 15 months of reported Israeli violations since the so-called "ceasefire", of which the US is a guarantor, Lebanese authorities and United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) report in excess of 15,400 breaches by Israel, with hundreds reportedly killed by Israeli actions over the past year.

On March 3, Hezbollah Resistance fighters launched decisive retaliatory strikes on the Israeli Occupation forces (IOF) in response to the brutal and escalating Israeli aggression on Lebanon. Israel has struck dozens of Lebanese cities and towns, inducing the Southern Suburb of Beirut. The Israeli Army's 91st Division had initiated a campaign on March 3 to militarily occupy Lebanese territory. Some 100,000 reservists have been called up for this campaign but many have failed to report for duty. Despite the withdrawal of Lebanese armed forces, Hezbollah Resistance fighters are fiercely confronting the IOF.

Resistance fighters shot down a drone over Nabatieh and targeted a Merkava tank in the Semmaqa, delivering a direct hit. Shortly after another Merkava tank was struck near Tal Nahas on the outskirts of Kfar Kila. When Israeli forces attempted to advance two additional tanks to recover the damaged vehicle in Tal Nahas, the fighters engaged them with precision-guided missiles, forcing the occupiers to retreat under heavy gunfire. Nearby, at the Metula settlement, Hezbollah fighters targeted a fifth Merkava tank.

Hezbollah fighters also fired salvos of rockets at IOF forces occupying the Rawlyyah site and the Kela' site in the Syrian Golan and attacked Israeli Haifa Naval Base with advanced drones. The Resistance deployed a swarm of attack drones against the Meron air surveillance and operations management base in northern occupied Palestine, causing damage to one of the base's radar systems and a command building, according to a statement. IOF radar installations and control rooms were also struck at the Ramat David Airbase in occupied Palestine, some 50 km from the Lebanese border, demonstrating the precision and reach of the Resistance's operations.

Aid for Cuba arrives from Mexico - Photo: Granma

On March 4, 2026, a public meeting took place in the House of Commons entitled "Cuba Under Siege", organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Cuba and the Cuba Solidarity Campaign (CSC). The meeting heard from experts as well as MPs about the escalating US sanctions on Cuba, and discussed what action could be taken in Britain to stand in solidarity with the people of Cuba and oppose the sanctions and aggression. The meeting was very well attended, with the room running out of seats and attendees standing round the edge of the room to fit more people in. The attendees were comprised of a mix of MPs, campaigners, trade unionists, and members of the public.

"Cuba Under Siege" was chaired by Steve Witherden MP, who opened by stressing the humanitarian and political gravity of the crisis. He highlighted Early Day Motion (EDM) 2739 [1] as a way for MPs to show opposition to the US measures and encouraged those who had not signed to sign it, and also for other attendees to write to their MPs requesting that they sign the motion.

The first main speaker was the Cuban Ambassador to the UK, Ismara Vargas Walter. Her testimony was incredibly powerful, invoking strong emotions. Her description of the humanitarian impact visibly shocked the room: alongside blackouts of up to 20 hours a day, she explained the impact this was having on Cuban hospitals, with doctors having to perform surgeries using only the light of their mobile phones, even on newborn babies. The resilience and strength of the Cuban people continues to be astounding, even in the face of such horrific aggression.

The meeting then heard from Dr Emily Morris, an economist and Honorary Senior Research Fellow at University College London's Institute of the Americas (UCLIA), who had just returned from Cuba. She confirmed and reinforced the ambassador's account of the severe conditions caused by fuel, medicine, and food shortages, and warned the room that "people are dying, they're definitely dying".

Two MPs then expressed their views. Diane Abbott MP spoke on Cuba's history and the history of US aggression towards the country, such as during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Richard Burgon MP framed the sanctions as part of the wider US strategy, stating the goal is "to bring about hunger, desperation, and overthrow of government".

Finally, Bernard Regan, National Secretary of the Cuba Solidarity Campaign, focused on action. He highlighted the practical solidarity already underway, such as the Cuba Vive appeal, which has sent eight shipments of aid. He echoed the ambassador's sentiment, arguing that Cuba's only "threat" is its good example of internationalism.

Unfortunately there wasn't an opportunity for questions or statements from those in attendance, but the issue of the urgency of going all out to support Cuba and its people's life and death struggle for their right to be was clear. The people are demonstrating their heroism in safeguarding their independence and resisting attempts to asphyxiate them.

The lasting impact of the meeting, particularly the images of the resilience and resourcefulness of the Cuban people in overcoming the effects of the blockade, stayed in the minds of the participants long after the meeting had concluded, inspiring further investigation and determination to give every possible support to Cuba and its people and government. It made clear the human consequences of US imperialism and its economic war on Cuba, and clarified the urgent need for action. The US is engaging in economic violence and warfare against a country whose only crime is daring to chart a socialist path. The Cuban people have an inalienable right to defend their national sovereignty and their chosen path of development.

Notes
1. For the text of EDM 2739, see Workers' Weekly, "Defeat the US Attempts to Crush Revolutionary Cuba!", Note 1
https://www.rcpbml.org.uk/wwie-26/ww26-05/ww26-05-01.htm

Michael Chant General Secretary of RCPBML speaking at the new year social

March 16 marks the 47th anniversary of the founding of the Revolutionary Communist Party of Britain (Marxist-Leninist) in 1979. The Party is proud to have reached this anniversary tempered in the midst of the struggles and fighting traditions of the working class and people of England, Scotland and Wales, and as a contingent of the international communist and workers' movement in Britain. We pay tribute to these struggles and traditions which the working people have never betrayed, especially the working women who have always been at the forefront. As the Party said on the threshold of a new millennium: "The challenge of history is to move forward into the 21st century on a new basis and to prepare for the revolutionary transformation of society."

Comrade Hardial Bains speaking at the International Rally of Marxist-Leninist Parties on the Centenary of Karl Marx, London, June 4 1983

RCPB(ML) also takes this opportunity to record its immense debt to the leadership of Comrade Hardial Bains, and now to the close fraternal comradeship of the Communist Party of Canada (Marxist-Leninist) which continues to this day.

The Party was tempered in the anti-fascist struggles of the 1970s under the leadership of the late John Buckle. This has defined the contribution of the Party in terms of pinpointing the struggles thrown down by history which require addressing at any period, challenges which the Party has never shirked from accepting. In this context, it is important to state that right from the word go, RCPB(ML) has taken up as one the cause of the liberation and unity of Ireland and the Irish people from British colonialism and imperialism. It has taken up the struggle against all racist attacks, organised by the state, and has taken up as one the cause of the people of Africa, Asia, Oceania and the Caribbean, whether as part of the working class in Britain or in unity against the colonialism and neocolonialism of the British state, its ruling elite and its reactionary and retrogressive monarchy, which today is demonstrating its true colours.

Very crucially, RCPB(ML) has always taken up the fight against imperialist war, and today has as part of its cutting edge work the fight for an Anti-War Government in a period characterised by extreme dictate and wanton violence and conflict. How does the Party do this? It does so first and foremost in its work of Party building, the taking of decisions and implementing them in and through the collective, having in mind the necessity to give rise to the modern democratic personality, and takes these methods into the movement itself. In this way, the line of march is being taken towards establishing an Anti-War Government which embodies the modern democratic personality and which fulfils the people's striving for peace, democracy and freedom. This is a profound conception encompassing a government which is also pro-social and pro-worker. Out of the resistance struggles of society, and guided by the theory of Modern Communism, is emerging the outlook of the New. This is a new framework which has fidelity to the ensemble of human relations, and recognises that the need for political power is indispensable. It is an internationalist framework, working to bring into being a world of socialised humanity, humanising the natural and social environments.

35th anniversary of RCPB(ML), March 16 2014

RCPB(ML) persistently implements its stand against the police powers wielded by the ruling elites who are restructuring the state to ensure everything is done to serve the narrow private interests of finance capital and the oligopolies. The Party puts on the agenda to organise and inspire the working class to respond to the urgent necessity for a change in the direction of society and the economy. It calls for the people to establish their own vantage point and for the working class to rely on and implement its own agenda and programme. It calls for workers and the class as a whole to speak in their own name. This it is which points the way forward to the way out of the crisis, a crisis which is characterised by the existence of defunct liberal democratic institutions which no longer answer to the needs of the times in any sense. This requires settling scores with the old conscience which embodies the "covenant thesis" on which the old political system is based, with "representatives" authorised to speak in the name of the electorate, a system which is disempowering the people, maintaining a fictitious person of state which keeps everyone as subjects, rather than as citizens with equal membership rights.

The Party in this context upholds that the working class must constitute itself the nation and vest sovereignty in the people with the aim of creating a society without the exploitation of persons by persons, and in particular ending the old system of wage slavery. The Party organises the people to be history-making. This is the significance of its own history. No amount of attempts to marginalise the Party can erase this. Its outlook, revolutionary ideology and methods of work mark it out.

We are proud to say that the Party has over the decades foiled every attempt of the state to subvert it, marginalise it and crush it or get it to conciliate with the ruling elites. It has continued to march on along the high road of civilisation, taking its stand with progressive humanity and the resistance struggles of the people against exploitation and oppression. It pledges to build the New by leaving the Old behind, being at one with the struggles of the people for their rights, and with its programme for the working class: "Stop Paying the Rich! Increase Investments in Social Programmes!" It calls on all democratic forces to join the work for democratic renewal and the empowerment of the people.

Over the years since its founding, the Party has built itself in the course of providing solutions to the critical problems of society. On this occasion the Party pays tribute to all its members, activists and sympathisers, workers, women and youth, who over the years have contributed to building RCPB(ML) in all its vibrancy and vitality, dealing with the world as it is, and as part of the communist and workers' movement internationally. As the conditions have changed, so have the analyses and political programmes, while the theory known as Contemporary Marxist-Leninist Thought has become all the more powerful. In this context, as the Third Congress of RCPB(ML) brought out, the Party has not only been built and strengthened but is a living organism, in motion in this historical phase of the retreat of revolution, and with a vision of a new and classless society.

On this occasion the Party gives a call for everyone longing for and fighting for change, especially the youth, to consider joining the ranks of RCPB(ML), building it as the Party which the times demand as the instrument for this change. Let us together fight for the alternative!