By Shahriar Kia
These days, various Trump administration
officials are heard making remarks and taking measures regarding Iran.
U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has time and again spoken about
Iran's notorious activities. "[T]he country that continues to cause
the most havoc, whether it's Syria, whether it's Iraq, any place around the
world you look at Iran, and you see there is a bad influence, and being that
state sponsor of terrorism is something we don't want to reward," Haley
said in a recent interview with CNN.
Adopting a tone not
seen in any other U.S. top diplomat, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson also
resorted to strong rhetoric about Iran:
"Iran," Tillerson said in an April 19 press conference,
"is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and is responsible for
intensifying multiple conflicts and undermining U.S. interests in countries
such as Syria, Yemen, Iraq, and Lebanon, and continuing to support attacks
against Israel[.] ... An unchecked Iran has the potential to travel the same
path as North Korea, and take the world along with it[.] ... Iran's
provocative actions threaten the United States, the region, and the world[.]
... Iran continues to have one of the world's worst human rights records."
The fact that Iran has
for years been the world's leading sponsor of terrorism and has destabilized
the entire Middle East by meddling in other countries is
nothing new. Iran's secret nuclear program, aimed at obtaining
atomic weapons, parallel to its flagrant human rights violations dossier,
is also nothing new.
To this end, the
question is, why has this regime for years been permitted to so internationally
provoke and seek such meddling while
launching such ruthless crackdown campaigns domestically? In other words,
why has Iran developed such circumstances, and what must be done?
The reason can be found
first in the nature of the regime ruling Iran and the policies adopted by the
West in the face of Tehran. This focus has hinged on appeasing the
mullahs and engaging in rapprochement.
The West sought to
bring about changes inside Iran through such an approach, seeking
"moderates" inside the regime. The mullahs, aware of such a
miscalculated policy, instigated the matter and created an illusion of
"moderates" actually existing in this regime. Iran depicted
these domestic disputes to the West as conflicts between "moderates"
and "hardliners," cleverly playing "good cop, bad cop."
Events in Iran
throughout the past four decades clearly show that there are no
"moderates" to be found inside this regime, and until the mullahs'
establishment is out of power, we will not witness any change from within.
This is exactly why, over 40 years, be it during the tenure of
"hardliners," such as Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or the so-called
"moderates," seen in former president Mohammad Khatami and the
incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, Iran's
official policy has continued to focus on exporting crisis and terrorism
abroad, quelling domestic dissent, and continuing efforts to obtain nuclear
weapons.
To divert Western
policy vis-à-vis Iran, in addition to the "good cop, bad cop"
scenario, Iran has also continuously claimed the absence of any credible
opposition or alternative. Therefore, with no change in sight, the only
solution is to seek change from within.
The actual truth lies
in the fact that the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
with the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK)
as its main member, is the largest opposition against Tehran. This
coalition enjoys the most support among Iranians inside the country and abroad,
as seen vividly in its annual 100,000-strong rallies, where
supporters gather in Paris from all four corners of the globe.
Despite the Iranian
regime launching killings sprees and massacring more than 30,000 PMOI/MEK
members and supporters in the summer of 1988, this organization has
remained the most powerful Iranian opposition movement, enjoying networks in
cities across Iran. Senior Iranian regime officials have admitted time
and again how the PMOI/MEK network organized the
massive 2009 rallies without leaving a trace. And currently, Iranian
officials are terrified of a 2009 repeat in the upcoming May 19 presidential election.
In contrast to the
misogynist regime ruling Iran that recognizes no rights for women, this opposition
is led by a woman, seen in NCRI president Maryam
Rajavi, who has presented a 10-point
plan for a future, truly democratic Iran. Universal human
rights, separation of church and state, a non-nuclear Iran, gender equality,
freedom of religion, revoking the death penalty, banning torture, and
respecting all international covenants are aspects of Rajavi's agenda.
Tehran has pursued its
deceptive policy and lured the West into a mirage of finding
"moderates" in Iran. As a result, Western appeasers have failed
to see the truth regarding Iran and never adopted a firm policy against
Tehran's mullahs.
Today, the Middle East
and the world over are paying the price of such a mistaken policy. If
this trend continues, we will unfortunately be witness to further catastrophes
in the not so distant future.
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