Iran’s independent development path should be celebrated not feared
Iran’s independent development path should be celebrated not feared
Speech given by Wyatt Miller, Anti-War Committee member, on June 24, 2025
On June 23, President Trump announced a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. It’s unclear what this will lead to. But a few things are clear.
One is that Trump’s arrogance got taken down a notch. The man who just days ago demanded “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” from Iran is now suing for peace and even seems to be ordering Israel to stand down.
But it doesn’t stop there. Trump had openly stated that the goal of the U.S. and Israel attacks on Iran was to force Iran to agree to end its nuclear program, and essentially, let the U.S. dictate Iran’s development path and geopolitical orientation. He achieved none of this.
It’s not because he had some change of heart. It’s because Trump’s arrogant demands crashed into a brick wall called reality. The U.S. and Israel can blow up infrastructure, they can assassinate scientists, but all the bombs in the world can’t end a nation’s comm uh itment to independent development and self-determination.
Because that’s what the nuclear issue is really about. Iran was not building nuclear weapons – it was, and still is, developing a civilian nuclear program for energy and healthcare applications. It was able to develop this advanced nuclear industry, complete with all the complex supply chains that go into that, despite decades of U.S. sanctions and Israeli sabotage.
I want people to understand how rare this is – even many so-called “first world” countries are still dependent on the US for key high-tech components. But Iran has chosen a path of national self-reliance for its scientific and technological development. It’s astonishing. Speaking as an engineer myself, I would even call it cool.
Sometimes people get uncomfortable when I say that. But that’s exactly the mindset the anti-war movement needs to combat. We’re not mega-investors or multinational CEOs. We can be confident celebrating it when we see other nations developing along an independent path of self-determination and succeeding, rather than defaulting to fearing it as a competitor or threat.
Clearly, Iran isn’t a perfect utopia. But Iran’s problems are for Iranians to solve in Iran. One of the most important things we can do for international solidarity here in the U.S. is fight back against the idea that we’re the world police.
That’s why our work doesn’t stop. The war on Iran didn’t start in June 2025, and with this ceasefire it’s not really ending; just changing form. For decades, the U.S. and Israel have been using assassinations, sabotage, and a cruel, brutal sanctions regime to hurt millions of ordinary Iranians, trying to coerce them into accepting US dominance over their economy and development – and above, into dropping their support for Palestine.
So we’ve got our work cut out for us. We need to fight for an end to U.S. aid to Israel, we need to fight for the State of Minnesota to divest from Israel, and we need to build the broadest possible mass movement to take down the whole imperialist beast that we live in belly of.
When Iran is under attack, what do we do? Stand up fight back!
Long live international solidarity!