OPINION: A call for working with the opposition in Iran
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| Maryam Rajavi http://bit.ly/2j0HcBm  By Dr. Majid RafizadehFriday, 20 January 2017 |
In an unprecedented move, a 23 member bi-partisan group of
senior former US officials signed a critical letter and
delivered it to President-elect Donald Trump. The letter suggested new policy
options regarding the Islamic Republic of Iran and the need for the United
States to open up a meaningful channel of communication with the Iranian
opposition, namely the coalition, National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI),
which is led by Maryam Rajavi.
Maryam Rajavi is the president-elect of the NCRI and
Congressman, Brad Sherman previously commended
Rajavi, for her “advocacy of democracy, human and women’s rights
in Iran.” In the letter dated Jan. 9, the former officials call for the US
government “to establish a dialogue with Iran’s exiled resistance, the National
Council of Resistance of Iran.” A copy of the letter dated January 9 can be found here.
This is something that has never been done under any other
administration. The letter is signed by senior former US officials including
Rudy Giuliani, Joseph Lieberman, General James Jones, Michael Mukasey, Patrick
Kennedy, General Hugh Shelton (Hugh Shelton, a former chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff under President Bill Clinton), Tom Ridge, Louis Freeh, and Ed
Rendell to name a few.
NCRI and preserving US national interests
The letter explains that well-informed and revised policies
toward Iran are needed due to the fact that the Islamic Republic has used every
opportunity since its establishment to scuttle US foreign policy objectives and
damage US national, geopolitical, economic and strategic interests with the
assistance of its proxies.
“Iran’s rulers have directly targeted US strategic interests,
policies and principles, and those of our allies and friends in the Middle
East,” the letter reads, and it adds “To restore American influence and
credibility in the world, the United States needs a revised policy.”
The letter addressed the need for President Trump to address the
deficiencies of the nuclear agreement as well as to focus on Iran’s human
rights violations. These objectives can be more easily achieved if the US
cooperates with Iran’s largest opposition group in exile.
Soona Samsami, Representative in Washington for the National
Council of Resistance of Iran, said: “The letter by 23 former senior US
officials is an appropriate and timely initiative. Its recommendations fill a
void that has disabled US policy on Iran for over three decades. Experience has
shown that no amount of political or economic concessions to the medieval and
totalitarian regime ruling Iran will bring about any change in its behavior.
Standing firm against the epicenter of
terrorism and instability in the region and siding with the Iranian people, the
organized opposition and their aspirations for a free and democratic Iran are
key to regional and global peace and security
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh
Attempts to capitalize on moderation within this regime, under
whatever pretext or circumstance, are investments in a mirage. The initiative correctly
highlights the critical shortcoming in US Iran policy, which has been the
reluctance to reach out to the Iranian people and Resistance, who reject the
regime in its entirety and call for the establishment of democracy, pluralism,
separation of religion and state and a non-nuclear republic in Iran.
More than ever before, the Iranian people are ready for
democratic change. The time has come for a new approach by the incoming US
administration; to take a new, fresh look at the situation in Iran and consider
the realities, long obscured by the Iranian regime’s counterintelligence
apparatus and the policy of appeasement pursued by past US administrations.
Standing firm against the epicenter of terrorism and instability
in the region and siding with the Iranian people, the organized opposition and
their aspirations for a free and democratic Iran are key to regional and global
peace and security. Anything less will be a repeat of the failed policies of
the past.”
Largest opposition
group in exile
The NCRI calls for a democratic system of governance in Iran,
freedom of religion, social justice, rule of law and respecting human rights.
The NCRI characterizes the political establishment of the current ruling cleric
as authoritarianism and a “religious dictatorship”.
It is believed that the NCRI is currently the largest Iranian
oppositional group in exile, and has connections with Iranians on the ground in
Iran. Many believe that these give the NCRI the crucial resources to play a
very significant role in counterbalancing the power of the ruling ayatollahs,
pushing for a democratic system of governance in Iran, and preserving the
United States’s national and economic interests. The NCRI has previously
revealed Iran’s clandestine uranium enrichment sites.
Every year, the NCRI holds largest gathering of those who
advocate for freedom and democracy in Iran. The NCRI’s headquarter is in Paris,
but it also has offices in Washington DC and several other major European
countries.
For Iranian leaders, the NCRI is a serious threat to their hold
on power. They fear foreign governments’ cooperation with the NCRI because it
would put significant pressure on the ruling clerics and tip the balance of
power against them. Iranian leaders fear that Iranian opposition might inspire
the disaffected youth in Iran to protest against the government. Khamenei has
repeatedly shown that his main concern is such infiltrations.
Finally, the officials urge Trump to cooperate with Iran’s
opposition, as other countries are doing the same – “History aside, no one
disputes that the resistance effort since 2001 has been entirely political in
nature, including discovering and revealing Iran’s secret nuclear weapons
program in 2002 – an act for which President George W. Bush publicly credited
the resistance.
It is time to end the fundamentalist regime’s undue influence
over US policy and establish a channel of dialogue with the NCRI, as many other
governments have done, consistent with the longstanding US diplomatic practice
of dialogue with political opposition groups worldwide.”
Iranian leaders fear the soft power of oppositional groups more
than the military and hard power of foreign governments.
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Dr. Majid Rafizadeh, an Iranian-American political scientist, is president of the International American Council. Harvard-educated, Dr. Rafizadeh serves on the board of Harvard International Review at Harvard University. He is also a member of the Gulf project at Columbia University. Rafizadeh served as a senior fellow at Nonviolence International Organization based in Washington DC. He has been a recipient of several scholarships and fellowship including from Oxford University, Annenberg University, University of California Santa Barbara, and Fulbright Teaching program. He served as ambassador for the National Iranian-American Council based in Washington DC, conducted research at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and taught at University of California Santa Barbara through Fulbright Teaching Scholarship. He can be reached at Dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu, @Dr_Rafizadeh.
http://bit.ly/2j0HcBm
