By Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Donald Trump embarked on his first trip overseas as President on May 19th. Destination,
Saudi Arabia, of all places. After all the controversy about campaign rhetoric regarding Islam and his executive orders on travelers from Middle Eastern
countries, his choice of what he called “the heart of the Muslim World’ as his first stop on his first
trip came as quite a surprise to many.
Even more unexpected were the “yes” responses by more than 50 Muslim heads of state to attend the Arab Islamic
American Summit on May 21st.
The timing, place and reception of
the American president’s remarks at the Summit really should have come as no
surprise. They reflect the shared goal of western and Muslim nations of “a coalition of
nations who share the aim of stamping out extremism.” And in that context, in
comments long overdue for their clarity and lucidity, the American president called
out the world’s number-one state sponsor of terrorism: Iran.
In his words, “no discussion of stamping out this threat would be complete
without mentioning the government that gives terrorists all three—safe harbor,
financial backing, and the social standing needed for recruitment… From
Lebanon to Iraq to Yemen, Iran funds, arms, and trains terrorists, militias,
and other extremist groups that spread destruction and chaos across the region.
For decades, Iran has fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.”
It was a statement of policy long
awaited in the Arab world and beyond. For too long, groups such as ISIS and
Al-Qaeda have hoarded the headlines with their vicious massacres, bloody
videos, and offensive rhetoric. They were allowed to define the narrative as “Islam versus the infidels,” to the dismay and outrage of
Muslims worldwide, instead of calling it what it is: terrorism, plain and
simple.
This is not about Islam versus the
West, or Arabs versus Persians, or Sunnis versus Shiites. It is about the
civilized peoples of the world – of all faiths and cultures - joining together
to defeat a barbaric, violent extremism that spreads destruction and chaos in
the region, and brutalizes civilian populations, most of whom are in fact
Muslim. To do so, they must recognize that the heart of the leviathan beats in
Tehran. That fact has been well known to the peoples of the Middle East for
almost four decades. As Trump stated, Iran is “a government that speaks openly of mass murder, vowing
the destruction of Israel, death to America, and ruin for many leaders and
nations in this room.”
His words struck a chord among the
Muslim leaders gathered in Riyadh, and again struck a chord at Trump’s next
stop, Israel. And they struck a chord among the Iranian people, “the Iranian regime’s
longest-suffering victims.”
While the Iranian people did not
have voice at the summit, Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance coalition, whose main component, the Mujahedin-e Khalq(MEK), espouses a modern and tolerant Shia Islam, welcomed
the vision of peace, prosperity and alliance against extremism propagated at
the Riyadh Summit, and called on the international community to confront the
Iranian government’s export of terrorism and fundamentalism, its ballistic
missile program, its interference in the internal affairs of other countries,
as well as its destructive regional and international role. Iran’s velayat-e faqih theocracy, with all its factions, sees only one hope for its
survival: dogged pursuit of the fundamental policies of export of terrorism
abroad and harsh suppression within Iran. Its reckless drive to extend
its influence throughout the region provides Syria’s Bashar al-Assad with the
extremist reinforcements, funds and weapons he needs to massacre Syrian civilians, drive millions from
their homes, and turn city after city into wastelands. None of those resources
is turned on ISIS.
In Yemen, Houthi rebels armed and financed by Iran spread death and destruction. In Iraq,
militia led by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps incite sectarian strife, and
thwart efforts by Iraq’s central government to unite the nation in a campaign
to isolate and drive out ISIS. To confront this threat to the region and the
world, the international community must cut off the flow of funds and forces
from Tehran. In a nutshell, as Mrs. Rajavi emphasized, “The ultimate solution to the crisis engulfing the whole region
is the overthrow of the velayat-e faqih regime.” The 100,000 Iranian expats and their supporters from
around the world who are expected to attend an international convention in Paris on July 1, will echo that message. When Iran’s people have
freed Iran from Islamic extremism, replacing the mullahs’ rule with freedom and
popular sovereignty, in doing so they will bring the goal of stamping out
extremism in the Middle East region that much closer. It is time to
enable them realize that task.
Soyrce: Trump’s Middle East Trip and Iran: How to Bring Peace?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/5923cbe1e4b0b28a33f62f24
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