By DASHNOR KALOÇI

Memorie.al / The armed military conflict that has been going on for two years between Israel, the USA and Iran, and mainly the one of these last months in the Persian Gulf for control over the Strait of Hormuz, is not an unheard of "music", as it was "played" forty or so years ago, even with the same scenario, but with other actors "playing the roles". Regarding those events that led to bloody conflicts to the point that the world held its breath for the risk of a new world war, the leader of Communist Albania, Enver Hoxha, among others, kept notes in his political diary. Even analyzing in detail in the political and economic plan, everything that happened in that conflict and the role of the USA, the Soviet Union, Israel, France, Great Britain, Japan and Arab countries, etc.

For more information, the document in question is Enver Hoxha's political diary, dated June 13, 1984, which is published for the first time and in full by Memorie.al.

ENVER HOXHA'S POLITICAL DIARY

WEDNESDAY

JUNE 13, 1984

A SERIOUS SITUATION OF TENSION IN THE PERSIAN GULF

For some time now, a very serious situation of political tension has been created in the Persian Gulf, accompanied by the risk of a large-scale conflict erupting.

This tense crisis situation affects not only the Arab Gulf countries and Iran, but also a large number of industrialized capitalist countries of Western Europe, Japan, etc. The greatest and most open threats are being made to Iran and the Iranian people.

In fact, under any pretext, especially that the balance has been upset, the United States of America or the Soviet Union could intervene directly with military means in that country or incite a neighboring reactionary regime to do so.

Now the whole world knows that it is the United States of America and the social-imperialist Soviet Union that are fanning the flames of war in the Persian Gulf, just as they are doing in the Near East, the Middle East, Africa, and elsewhere.

Let's take the Iraq-Iran war, which has been going on for several years with colossal losses and damage on both sides, a conflict which, it seems, will continue for a long time.

Both superpowers are exploiting this conflict to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons and test their concrete destructive effect; to ensure the plunder of oil at the cheapest possible prices; to sabotage and undermine the progressive movement of the peoples of Iran and the Arab countries, as well as to suppress their liberation struggle, that is, to insert their blood-stained hands into the internal affairs of the peoples of this region.

I have written on other occasions that the vast oil-bearing region of the Middle East is the target of the plots and strategic plans of the two superpowers and other imperial powers. They will never withdraw from this region, because they do not want to lose or damage the privileged economic or strategic-military positions they have secured in these areas.

Therefore, they will fan the flames of war in these hotbeds, they will keep local wars burning, they will help reactionary regimes with weapons and politically, they will incite one people against another and, without ending one conflict, they will ignite another.

This is what happened last year with the events in Lebanon, where, after the plan for a new heavy blow against Palestinian fighters was carried out, the flames of war died down and the intensity of the Iran-Iraq war and the crisis in the Persian Gulf increased.

Today, in these brief entries in my Diary, I do not want to talk about the entire Middle East, but only about the serious crisis that has arisen in the Persian Gulf, what this crisis is related to, and who is truly responsible for it.

As I see it, this war is fought primarily over oil, which currently constitutes the main source of energy for the world economy. The Arab countries, and mainly the countries on the coast of the Persian Gulf, or the Arabian Gulf, as some call it, are the largest producers and suppliers of oil to the vast majority of the industrialized capitalist countries of Western Europe, Japan, and some others.

Some of these countries obtain 40-85 percent of their oil needs from the Persian Gulf countries, while Japan obtains over 90 percent of its needs.

Known oil reserves in Arab countries and Iran are estimated at 367 billion barrels, a figure that some consider much lower than the real figure, while annual oil exports do not exceed 15 billion barrels, 4 billion of which are absorbed by American monopolies.

This is why the interests associated with the escalation of the crisis and the outbreak of a large-scale conflict over oil are diverse and, in most cases, incompatible.

This colossal amount of oil, which is transported mainly by sea in very large tankers, must pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf with the Gulf of Oman and further to the Indian, Pacific or Atlantic oceans. How have they increased the tension and are they keeping it artificially high in the Persian Gulf?

In the last two years, Iraq, which is supplied with modern weapons (aircraft, missiles, artillery) by the Soviet Union as well as by several other imperial powers such as France (which supplies it with "Mirage" aircraft and "Exocet" missiles), Great Britain and the United States of America, wanting to force Iran to surrender or accept the end of the war on unacceptable terms, has bombed several cities where part of the Iranian oil refining industry is located, such as Abadan, Bandar-Khomeini and Kharg Island, and has also hit with missiles a considerable number of ships transporting Iranian oil through the Strait of Hormuz.

In defense of its rights, Iran, for its part, declared that if Iraq did not stop bombing industrial cities and did not give up its efforts to impede the transport of Iranian oil, it would close the Strait of Hormuz and prevent the passage of ships.

The implementation of this measure would lead to the suspension of oil supplies to all industrialized capitalist countries of Europe, Japan, etc., where the consequences of the energy crisis would be incalculable.

There is no need for me to explain these consequences at length because it has been proven in the past, it was proven in 1973 and thereafter, that without oil, industrial life in many capitalist countries is suspended, the phenomenon of economic crisis reaches its peak and is accompanied by great and very serious political, economic and social upheavals.

Governments and parties are overthrown or seized power for a drop of oil. Scandals involving high-ranking figures of the capitalist bourgeoisie erupt for a drop of oil. Therefore, Iran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz created immense concern, disorientation, and unprecedented alarm in the capitalist world.

The United States of America, which is the leader of the world empire, immediately took countermeasures by announcing that it would defend "its national interests and the interests of its allies" in the Persian Gulf by all means.

They immediately sent part of the navy, air force, and special forces and units trained in guerrilla and urban warfare and large-scale landings to the Gulf of Oman. The leaders of the American empire publicly declared that these forces would immediately intervene in Iran if that country closed the Strait of Hormuz.

In fact, these strike forces have plans and remain on standby to execute Pentagon orders for such an intervention, regardless of how the Iranian people may view and cope with it.

The Americans should not forget their failed action at Tabas in 1981, where they suffered a humiliating defeat. The people of Iran have awakened, have a great hatred for the American empire, and are determined not to allow anyone to interfere in their internal affairs.

Meanwhile, Iraq, with the encouragement of the imperial powers and the Soviet Union, whose relations with Iran have been steadily deteriorating due to Soviet interference in that country’s internal affairs, has continued its bombing attacks and has hit dozens of tankers that were going to load oil on Kharg Island or sailing loaded from there to the open sea beyond Hormuz. Ninety percent of Iran’s oil is loaded onto tankers at the large terminal on Kharg Island. That is why Iraq has made that island the main target of its attacks. It is precisely these actions that have increased tension even further.

Several times recently, the tension has increased so much that the conflict has been on the verge of turning into a major war in which, in addition to the superpowers, most of the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf would inevitably be involved. Faced with this danger, urgent meetings of the Security Council have been requested on several occasions, frequent calls have been made for a “cold war”, etc., etc.

But are all the governments of capitalist countries, whose economies depend on Arab oil, ready and willing to start a conflict in the Persian Gulf? I think not. Not all capitalist governments, and by governments I mean the monopolies and multinational companies that are connected to and depend on the oil of the Gulf countries, agree that Iran should be placed in such conditions that it would be forced to close the Strait of Hormuz, because, as I have said, this would create a very difficult situation not only for their economies, but also for their military forces.

Japan, for example, does not want the situation to develop into war under any circumstances, and the world press and news agencies have broadcast reports and comments on this. Apparently, in this case the Japanese are against committing hara-kiri in the Persian Gulf, regardless of what the Americans say and want. The same applies to some other countries in Western Europe. There are strong conflicts of short-term and long-term interests in this regard. This is the first point.

Second. The vast Arabian Peninsula and Iran, which lies on the eastern shores of the Persian Gulf, constitute an important military-strategic area through which the communication routes between Europe, Asia, Africa and the great oceans of the world pass. Here we are dealing with a fragile balance between the two superpowers. If this balance is disturbed, they will be forced to attack each other.

That is, if the Americans intervene in Iran or elsewhere, the social-imperialists will inevitably act. The two superpowers are guarding each other like cat and mouse in the vast oil-bearing area of ​​the Middle East. Thus, at a certain point, humanity may face a chain reaction with very large and serious consequences not only for the Middle East, but also for the entire world. However, there is something else to keep in mind: they have divided their spheres of influence, but each fears the other's treachery.

When their interests demand it, they agree and turn a blind eye. That is why they have perfected direct connections between the White House and the Kremlin through red and yellow teletypes, radio, Morse code, picture transmission, etc. Such a thing can be seen now in these moments of serious crisis in the Persian Gulf.

It is true, nothing has been officially said, but reports are circulating that the United States of America and the Soviet Union have reached an agreement to abstain from intervention, to maintain "impartiality" if the Iraq-Iran conflict widens and the crisis in the Persian Gulf worsens, to stay out of it, at least from the point of view of direct intervention.

This means that they have agreed to maintain the state of crisis, to prolong the Iraq-Iran war and, if possible, to ignite some other local conflict. Let the Arab peoples be killed and dismembered, let them become cannon fodder for the superpowers and their predatory interests.

It is up to the Arab people, the progressive and revolutionary Arabs who understand the traps that the American imperialists, the Soviet social-imperialists, the various reactionaries and their false friends are setting, to avoid falling into these traps that have very serious consequences for the freedom, independence, wealth and future of the Arab peoples./ Memorie.al