Trump must not be allowed to restart war

Editorial / 29 October 2026 It’s time for the left to stand up to Burnham 29 October 2026 Editorial / 28 October 2026 The first Burnham Budget is miserably unambitious 28 October 2026 Editorial / 27 October 2026 Burnham at 100 days: must do better 27 October 2026 Editorial / 26 October 2026 Lula’s victory matters to the whole world — we must learn the lessons 26 October 2026 Editorial / 25 October 2026 Britain, climate chaos and war: our road to ruin 25 October 2026 Editorial / 23 October 2026 Freedom and sovereignty for Palestine is the only path to peace 23 October 2026 Editorial / 22 October 2026 Rejoining the EU won’t solve Britain’s economic crisis 22 October 2026 IT IS reported that Donald Trump is planning to restart his aggression against Iran in the near future. The British government must speak up loud and clear against this disastrous prospect.

It appears that the US president is only waiting for the midterm congressional elections to be over before giving the go-ahead to a further lawless attack in the Gulf.

He knows that his war is massively unpopular with working people in the US, so he wants the voting to be out of the way before ratcheting it up once more.

Trump’s gormless chauvinist of a Defence Secretary, Pete Hegseth, was in Israel last week plotting renewed hostilities with Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu too makes no secret of wanting to resume bombing Iran. It forms part of his own strategy for the Israeli election later this month.

The bellicose Israeli premier has long since worked out that war helps him stay in power and out of jail.

The war launched by Netanyahu and Trump has proved to be an epic calamity. It has cost an uncounted number of civilian lives, most of them Iranian.

It has led to a global economic crisis as the aggression caused the closure of the Straits of Hormuz which in turn has meant escalating energy prices.

It has destabilised the wider region as the states which unwisely host US military bases have themselves inevitably come under attack.

Contrary to the expectations of Trump and Netanyahu, it has not led to the fall of the Iranian government. Nor has it ended the argument over Iran’s unproven and repeatedly denied ambitions to build a nuclear weapon.

Trump is reduced to hoping to restore the status quo before his aggression, when the Straits were open to all traffic.

He should also reflect that previous US administrations made far more progress on the nuclear issue through negotiation than he has done through aggression.

As Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote in the Financial Times yesterday: “Iran seeks a just an honourable deal with the US. To achieve that outcome, the White House must demonstrate a serious and genuine will to permanently end its aggression.”

Twice in the last 18 months, such talks have been derailed by brazen US and Israeli military action.

Renewed war will solve nothing and lead to more destruction and misery. The British people will suffer through increased prices and more economic dislocation.

Yet the Burnham government seems bereft of initiative, beyond wrongly sending the RAF to protect Saudi Arabia from the consequences of its own criminal follies in Yemen and beyond.

Burnham should make it clear to the White House that it must focus exclusively on negotiation and there must be no return to war. The anti-war and labour movements must mobilise urgently nationwide behind the demand for peace.