[Salon] Economists Wolff and Hudson: "The Iran war is a desperate project that tries to slow down the collapse of the Empire."

https://harici.com.tr/ekonomistler-wolff-ve-hudson-iran-savasi-amerikan-dolarina-bagimliligini-koruma-stratejisinin-bir-parcasi/

Harici.com.tr 06.03.2026 15:54 Author

Economists Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson considered the US military intervention in Iran as a desperate geopolitical move that tried to slow the fall of the empire.

The Iran-based crisis, which echoed in global power centers, was discussed by experts who stated that American foreign policy was based on "built fictions".

Economists Michael Hudson and Richard Wolff, who came together on Dialogue Works, said that Washington's current military operation against Iran had structural similarities to the intervention in Iraq in 2003.

Michael Hudson stated that the allegations at the beginning of the process - like the lie that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction - were the same as the claim that Iran produced the atomic bomb today.

According to Hudson, behind the rapid war of the United States and Israel is not the failure of the negotiations that took place under Oman's mediation, but the contrary, the “threat” created by the agreement.

Hudson described the situation as follows:

“The Oman Foreign Minister announced that Iran agreed to an unprecedented agreement that met the demands of the United States to avoid fighting. Iran agreed to limit its uranium enrichment activities and dilute its existing stocks. However, Washington and Tel Aviv were horrified by the emergence of this fact. Because if this agreement had become official, all of Trump's discourse that Iran is after nuclear weapons would remain a fiction. Therefore, they had to take action before this fact was revealed.”

As Hudson underlined, the main motivation of the operation was not the prevention of nuclear weapons, but as Donald Trump himself expressed, "regime change". "The USA wants a structure that will be allegiant to itself, as in the Shah period before the 1979 revolution," Hudson said, noting that the center of the issue is the obligation to price oil with dollars and transfer these revenues to the American financial system.

“Israel acts like the US aircraft carrier in the Middle East”

Richard Wolff and Michael Hudson emphasized that conflicts in the Middle East are not just a regional tension, but part of the global financial system's strategy to maintain its dependence on the US dollar. Hudson pointed to the agreement with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC countries in 1974 and stated that this agreement is the cornerstone of US foreign policy:

“OPEC countries were told that they could sell oil at the price they wanted, but they had to price it in dollars and keep their income in bank deposits with US treasury bonds. The reason why the US is waging war on Venezuela, Russia or Iran today is that these countries have the will to sell oil in a currency other than the dollar, for example in Chinese Yuan.”

Wolff explained Israel's place in this equation with the concept of "settled colonialism". According to Wolff, Israel is trying to gain economic and geopolitical advantages by settling in the lands where other people live, neutralizing the local population in the process. Wolff described Israel's historical position with these words:

“The United States finances, arms and protects Israel; in return, Israel functions as the military arm of the United States. It is Israel's duty to suppress any kind of independence effort of the Middle East that tries to get rid of its colonial past. Israel is acting like the US aircraft carrier in the Middle East. However, the intervention made during the Musaddik period in the 1950s is not possible today; the world has changed.”

“A desperate project trying to slow down the collapse of the empire”

Richard Wolff shared striking data on the internal dynamics of the American economy and the defense budget. Reminding that the current budget is at the level of 900 billion dollars, Wolff pointed out that the Trump administration's plan to raise this figure to 1.5 trillion dollars took place at a time when the country's debt rate exceeded 120 percent of GDP.

Wolff said, “With what reason, a country that is already the largest military power in the world wants to increase its military spending by two-thirds in a year? And how will he do this when there is no possibility of borrowing left?” He added by directing the question:

“They will have to interrupt social programs to increase the budget. This suggests that projects such as the 'DOGE'-like extreme cuts proposed by Elon Musk or the privatization of the social security system are at the door. This is not sustainable. The US thinks it can slow the fall of the empire by increasing its military power, but the experience of Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq shows how such moves ended.”

“There will be a reckoning between thieves”

At the end of the meeting, two experts painted a pessimistic picture of the possible outcomes of the war. Wolff predicted that the relationship between the USA and Israel would inevitably deteriorate. "One day, it will be time for the tole to cover the stolen minaret," Wolff said, adding that a period of "inter-thieves reckoning" will begin where the American side will blame the Israelis for failure and the Israelis will blame the Americans.

Hudson, on the other hand, emphasized the importance of Europe's stance in this process. Reminding the statement of the Spanish Prime Minister that military bases in Spain will not be used against Iran, Hudson said that this is proof that cracks have occurred even within NATO.

Hudson said, "The world is no longer obliged to the dollar-centered system offered by America. Countries such as China, Russia and Iran are becoming a center of attraction for Europe and the global south. The USA is now only 'terror' left; terrorism created by arming the Russians in Ukraine, against Iran in the Middle East, and Taiwan in the Chinese Sea. However, this is not the liberation of the empire, but a process that accelerates its end" he concluded his analysis.

Experts said America's "historically outdated" strategies both threaten its own social contract and drag the global economy into great uncertainty.